in light of the current real estate market and recent property tax assessments on bainbridge island i have received a number of inquiries from property owners trying to reconcile the relationships among current market value, recent assessed value, and current property tax.  following are links to six pdf files that combine to serve as a good primer on how property tax works in washington state.  the source for the first attachment is the thurston county assessor web site, for the second and third the washington state department of revenue web site, and for the fourth, fifth, and sixth the kitsap county assessor web site.  while the first attachment is specific to thurston county, the examples are generally applicable to all counties in washington state.  i hope you all find this helpful or at least interesting.  as always, please feel free to forward it to anyone else who you think may have an interest.