A tax assessment is the value placed on a property (land and building(s)) by each individual town�s assessor. The assessment may reflect exactly the market value of the property, or may be only a small percentage of the actual current market value of the property, depending on the state issued ratio between market and assessment value.

For example, some towns may only be assessing at 20% of market value, meaning that a $100,000 assessment actually implies a $500,000 market value of the property.