Date of Award

12-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Social Work

First Advisor

Jin Kim, Ph.D., J.D.

Abstract

Immigration is one of the most heavily debated current issues in the United States. One area of this topic under investigation is what characteristics impact mobility decisions with respect to choice of location . A variety of factors can have an influence on immigrant mobility, one being property taxes. In this study, an analysis was conducted to determine if a relationship exists between property tax rates and immigrant mobility. County-level data from Illinois was used to see whether or not the percentage of foreign born individuals residing in a given county had any correlation with the property tax rate of that same county. The results of this study showed that the same conclusions of the Tiebout Hypothesis with regard to property tax induced migration remain true when applied to international migration. With evidence in support of property tax induced immigration, the findings from this study suggest that policy makers can utilize this information when making adjustments to property tax rates in certain locations in order to better accommodate the flows and distribution of foreign-born individuals in the United States.

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