An assessment is best described as what?

• A. The tax bill
• B. The parcel size
• C. The value placed on a property
• D. The owner's name

Answer: (C)

An assessment is the value assigned to a property by the local tax assessor for tax purposes. This value serves as the base for calculating property taxes—usually by multiplying the assessed value by the local tax rate to arrive at the tax bill. It’s not the amount of the bill itself, nor the parcel size or the owner’s name. The assessor determines the value based on features of the property and can change during reassessments or improvements, which in turn changes the amount of taxes due.