Maricopa County's 2026 tax rate schedule shows Paradise Valley's municipal rate as two zeros, 0.0000 primary and 0.0000 secondary. That single line is where the phrase "Paradise Valley has no property tax" comes from. The rest of that bill tells a different story. The Town's budget also has to be paid for somehow, and the money comes mostly from two groups: people building and remodeling homes inside the town limits, and guests staying at its resorts.
For a buyer weighing Paradise Valley against Scottsdale, the more useful question is what the Town gives up by not taxing property, and who makes up the difference.
What actually changes on the bill
The zero applies to one line. A Paradise Valley home still pays every other jurisdiction that overlaps it. Take tax area code 481100, which the county lists for the part of Paradise Valley in Scottsdale Unified School District #48. Its 2026 composite primary rate is 4.3823 per $100 of assessed value, its approximate residential primary rate is 3.3045, and its secondary rate is 1.6341.
The primary portion breaks down this way:
- Maricopa County, 1.1463
- Maricopa County Community College District, 1.0776
- Scottsdale Unified #48, 2.1584
- Town of Paradise Valley, 0.0000
The secondary portion adds smaller levies for the Maricopa County Flood Control District, the Library District, Fire District Assistance, Central Arizona Water Conservation, the Maricopa Special Health Care District, EVIT, the community college district and the school district.
Paradise Valley also spans more than one tax area. According to the Town's resident guide, homes west of Tatum Boulevard and south of Lincoln Drive fall within the Creighton Elementary and Phoenix Union High School districts. The county lists that area as code 141100, with a 2026 approximate residential primary rate of 4.2634 and a secondary rate of 5.5471. Two estates in the same town can carry noticeably different rates depending on which side of that line they sit.
So the comparison with Scottsdale comes down to one line on the bill. The City of Scottsdale's FY 2026/27 budget sets the city's own rates at $0.4708 primary and $0.4267 secondary per $100 of assessed value, a combined $0.8975. Scottsdale says that primary levy supports police and fire protection, parks and libraries. Paradise Valley skips the city line. It does not skip the county, college, school and special-district lines.
Fire service is funded through a different channel. The Town works with the City of Phoenix Fire Department, and its resident guide, last revised in 2023, describes a fire-service fee charged monthly on the Town utility bill. The adopted FY2027 budget forecasts $3,248,000 in fire-service charges for services. Part of what a Scottsdale owner pays through a property levy, a Paradise Valley owner pays through a separate fee.
All of this explains how the bill is built, as general information. It is not tax or financial advice. Rates vary by parcel, so confirm the tax area for a specific address with the county and a qualified tax professional.
Where the Town's money comes from
Without a property levy, the Town runs on sales tax. The FY2027 final budget, adopted May 14, 2026, estimates $37,678,398 in transaction privilege tax out of $52,964,921 in total General Fund revenue. That works out to about 71 cents of every General Fund dollar. The budget states it plainly: the Town "does not levy property taxes."
The breakdown by category is more revealing. The Town's FY2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report splits collections by source, using Arizona Department of Revenue data.
| Source, fiscal year ended June 30, 2025 | Amount collected |
|---|---|
| Construction sales tax | $9,343,177 |
| Hospitality sales tax | $8,683,607 |
| Bed tax, reported separately | $6,782,901 |
| Retail trade | $7,650,929 |
| Communications and utilities | $1,286,805 |
| Finance, insurance and real estate | $850,378 |
| Other | $510,180 |
Hospitality sales tax and bed tax together came to about $15.5 million in FY2025, out of roughly $35.1 million in sales and bed tax combined. The Town's bed tax rate was 5.90%, which came to 13.17% once county and state rates were added. The ACFR credits much of this to tourism, pointing to the Town's eight resorts with AAA four-diamond ratings. In practice, a meaningful share of what pays for Town services is charged on resort guests' room folios.
The largest single category, though, is construction.
The Town treats its largest source as one-time money
Construction sales tax made up about 29% of the Town's sales tax revenue and 18% of total General Fund revenue in FY2024-25. The ACFR attributes it to "construction of new homes and resorts within the Town." Every teardown, estate rebuild and major remodel sends sales tax into the Town budget.
The Town plans around that money with some caution:
"Construction sales taxes are one-time in nature and as such the Town's financial policies require that at least 50% of construction sales taxes are dedicated to the Capital Improvement Program (CIP)."
The ten-year history shows why. Construction collections rose from $3,181,485 in FY2016 to $9,952,045 in FY2024, then eased to $9,343,177 in FY2025. Hospitality fell to $3,023,336 in FY2021 and came back to $7,773,420 in FY2022. Both swings come from activity outside the Town's control.
That policy explains where the capital budget gets its money. The FY2027 budget includes $15.9 million for capital improvements, among them the Mockingbird Lane project between 56th Street and Invergordon Road, as reported by the Daily Independent. Much of the road and drainage work around Paradise Valley homes is funded by other people's construction projects.
A budget with little slack
Arizona's constitutional expenditure limitation also caps how much the Town can spend. For FY2027, the amount subject to the limit is $47,956,354, against a limit of $48,281,082. That leaves a margin of about $325,000 on a $68.7 million budget.
The revenue forecast is just as flat. Transaction privilege tax is projected to rise from $37,355,851 in FY2026 to $37,678,398 in FY2027, an increase of under 1%. The budget did not pass easily either. Council Members Scott Moore and Anna Thomasson voted against the tentative budget on April 23, before the final version passed unanimously on May 14, according to the Daily Independent. At the Town's community budget forum, Chief Financial Officer Leslie DeReche walked residents through the fund accounting, and residents asked how the expenditure limitation is set. The Paradise Valley Independent listed raising the expenditure limit and "dealing with the aftermath of the collapsed Ritz-Carlton project" among the council's 2026 challenges.
The Ritz-Carlton touches both revenue streams
Five Star Development planned The Ritz-Carlton, Paradise Valley, The Palmeraie as a 215-room resort with 80 branded villas, 32 estate homes and a 29-acre retail and dining district. That would have meant construction tax while it was being built and hospitality and bed tax once it opened. In August 2025, Phoenix Business Journal managing editor Paul Thompson called the hotel portion "the big money maker" for the Town in an interview with KJZZ. In the same report, Town Manager Andrew Ching said the Town supported the developers "by approving condominiums as their construction is complete and substantial progress is made towards completion of the hotel."
Five Star filed for Chapter 11 on November 4, 2025. In February 2026, The Real Deal reported that $32 million in debtor-in-possession financing had been approved, with the developer still raising money for a full construction restart. No source reviewed for this post confirms that hotel construction has resumed.
On September 18, 2026, the debtors filed a joint Chapter 11 plan that calls for a court-supervised sale of the hotel. Any qualified bidder must identify "an experienced hotel developer who is committing to complete development of the Hotel Property." The sale must close within six months of court approval of the bidding procedures, and the debtors can extend that deadline twice by six months each. Equity holders also have an option to buy the hotel, its furnishings and the undeveloped land for no less than $570 million plus specified adjustments. If they exercise it, there is no auction. An October 1 court filing puts the confirmation hearing on November 18, 2026.
The plan's bidder requirement is what matters for the Town's revenue. A buyer that commits to finishing the hotel would restart construction tax first, then bring room nights and bed tax. If both extensions are used, the sale itself could take up to 18 months from approval of the bidding procedures. Meanwhile, the FY2027 budget projects essentially flat sales tax, and the land set aside for the 29-acre retail district remains undeveloped.
FAQ
Does a Paradise Valley home pay property tax at all? Yes. The Town's rate is zero, but county, community college, school district and special-district levies still apply. The rates depend on the parcel's tax area code.
Is the Scottsdale comparison a full-bill comparison? No. It covers the city line only, which is $0.8975 per $100 of assessed value in Scottsdale for FY 2026/27 and zero in Paradise Valley. Paradise Valley's separate fire-service charge also belongs in the comparison.
When will the Ritz-Carlton's future be clearer? The confirmation hearing on the plan is scheduled for November 18, 2026, according to the October 1 filing. Dates in bankruptcy cases can move.
Before an offer, the tax area code on a Paradise Valley estate is worth reading as closely as its floor plan. Artie Baxter can pull the county record for any address you are considering and go through each line of its bill with you. Book an Appointment.
