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<br />CCM Economics, LLC Orange County Tax Equity Page 21 <br /> <br />who is assessed for property taxes on real property within county lines. It is therefore somewhat <br />straight forward to determine the amount of property taxes paid by citizens of a particular <br />municipality. Other components were harder to determine. For example, currently the county <br />funds several parks. These parks are not restricted to citizens of Orange County but are available <br />to everyone. Furthermore, some of the parks are easier to access for some citizens than for <br />others. If a park is located in the northwest corner of the county, there is no legal restriction on <br />citizens from the southeast corner of the county from using the park. It is though, ceteris paribus, <br />more difficult for the citizen in the southeast corner to use the park than it would be for a citizen <br />in the northwest corner of the county. <br /> This study though is primarily focused on not who uses county and municipally provided <br />services, but if they are available to all citizens who are funding that particular service.13 <br />Returning to the illustration of the park in the previous paragraph, if the park is funded by a <br />county wide tax that is paid by all citizens and is available for all citizens to use, then one could <br />say that this is ‘equitable’. If, however, the tax to fund the park was assessed on all Orange <br />County citizens but the park facilities were only allowed to be used by the citizens of <br />Hillsborough, then one could say that this is ‘unequitable’. The only way that having an Orange <br />County government provided good or service for certain citizens of the county could be <br />‘equitable’ was if onl y those citizens who paid the special assessment for the service were <br />allowed to use the service. In this example, if the citizens of Hillsborough paid a special Orange <br />County government assessment for a park, then one could argue that it would be ‘equitable’ to <br />allow only citizens of Hillsborough to use it. In fact, allowing citizens of Chapel Hill to use the <br /> <br />13 However, the question of who is using different county government services can be answered through the results <br />of the survey. <br />58