Taxpayer (building)

In US real estate, urban planning, and especially firefighting, a taxpayer refers to a small one or two story building built to cover the owner's annual property tax assessed for owning a parcel of land.

[1] Taxpayers are most commonly mixed use structures with commercial occupancies on the first floor and residential use above.

The building style was generally replaced with strip malls as the automobile became dominant in the mid 20th Century.

[3] Taxpayer buildings are criticized for being poorly or cheaply built, but allow a developer to stay in business while they wait for more favorable conditions.

The poor quality construction often burns readily, and the architecture tends to encourage backdrafts.