[stephengillie]

This is very cool. I don't know much about Philadelphia, but I'm interested in how much this reflects/affects rental trends -- would people move from a higher-taxed property to a lower one? Are the taxes increasing in areas with less crime? Are the taxes increasing in areas where elected officials live?

Looking at the way this is done, it seems like the hardest part of doing this for another city is getting accurate geographic and valuation data in the correct formats.

[pselle]

I'm not the reporter on the project, but from what I've heard in the media, it sounds that renters are supposedly the biggest losers -- some properties are seeing thousands of dollars in tax increases, which they'll most assuredly pass onto renters in a tax hike (my opinion, also that of some other Philadelphians). Related article: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local//taxipedia/51402-ar...

[gertef]

assuredly why? is rental pricing competition purely cost-driven?

Since rental units don't have much marginal cost, that seems unlikely -- They are capital investments, financed by mortgages or owned outright.