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And that assessment is based on an opinion (in other words, on air) rather than a market signal.

Not only that, it's not even an attempt to reflect the market value in most jurisdictions.

I've not heard of this: why is that? What else is it an attempt to reflect?

Here's a pretty randomly chosen one from a state that I know does the practice GP describes:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3304-Gillenwater-Dr-Knoxv...

Sold in 2021 for $190K. Tax assessment in 2020 was $111K; in 2021 was $28K; in 2022 was $50K. The assessed value has no obvious tight relationship to the market value.

Eh, not quite. There are lots of market forces on that number, mainly not wanting to pay higher taxes and higher insurance and having the ability to appeal/contest it and get different appraisers.

I am not taxed differently on the land vs the buildings. There is no market force on the land portion specifically from the city. Any appeal I would make would be based on comps, which are invariably land and improvements together.

My insurance limits are distinct and negotiated between me and the insurance company, based on the cost to rebuild, which is at best loosely correlated to the current value of the improvements.

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