by Judy Major Most of us understand that property taxes (about 45% of Madison county revenue) are essential to providing a broad range of valuable public services such as clean drinking water, quality K-12 schools, safety on our streets and services for the elderly, to name a few. Most of us also agree that property taxes should be equitable. That is to say, taxes should be in proportion to the owner’s means. It’s important to understand that the tax rate aka “mill rate” (th