I don’t think TX is as special as you make it out. Many other states have as high or higher tax rates and will likely be leaning into it to fund their governments. NJ has 1.89% average property tax and the government pensions are under funded in a big way.
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And a related highly corrupt issue is Homeowner Associations! They have way too much power and are even more likely to drive mom and pop out of their home. Their cost tends to go up 10% a year. They can even seize your home, at least in Texas. They might be easier to get rid of than property taxes.
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I’m primarily a family law attorney, but I also handle the occasional bankruptcy. Here in New England, property tax bills are a MAJOR factor pushing people over the edge into bankruptcy. Bankruptcies nationwide have jumped nearly 20%.
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These kind of shenanigans jacking up the assessed value or the tax rate were the main reason for the passage of Prop. 13 in California in 1978. What it did was roll back the assessed value to 1975 level, limit annual increase to 2%, and put the tax rate at 1%. If the property was sold or additions made it would be reassessed at market value with the 2%increases and 1% rate applying. At first this applied to all property even commercial. The limits on commercial were stripped away years ago. The residential limits are still in place. And for longtime homeowners, the elderly etc. a huge blessing. All much to the chagrin of Sacramento’s corrupt and excessively greedy Democrat super majority controlled legislature and governor. They despise Prop. 13 but it’s been given “the third rail” status. Woe to the politician who dare touch it for it is considered holy.
Several years back the Los Angeles County Assessor was caught taking payments for lowering assessed values on certain properties. Then he jacked up others to compensate for the loss of revenue.
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We have two properties in a state that gives disabled vets a pass on paying property taxes.
So comparing the two countries requirements, the rural county has a one page form and once done you are good to go until the vet dies or moves. The more urban county requires it be done annually and you must submit a copy of your state and federal tax returns.
And apparently one of the counties in between has added a luxury tax to larger homes because they had so many 100% disabled vets moving into their county that they needed more money.
Just wait until all these young service members forced to take the vax get a disability rating for their myocarditis.
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Cant agree…takes years to pay off mortgage…and savings? Forgeddaboutit. Its simple math as cm says…your income always rises less than your property taxes.
Very few of us are warren buffets. Even w investments it easy to get wiped out…and wait until very soon the pension and social sec etc are already broke or soon to be…do you think they will adjust property taxes lower? Hahaha…never.
Omg are you kidding. Not sure where you are but I bought my house with cash about 18 year ago. Property taxes were approx $3500 yr and insurance was $900 now taxes are over $7000 and insurance is $3000. Yea that fits in the budget. Don’t care what Ramsey or any other millionaire says can’t “plan” for those kind those increases. Fed keeps printing & Property taxes are fraud and nobody appears to be in control. I’m still holding on but these days are limited with these increases
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lol. 1.89 I wish. We are over 2.2 and now they are changing rule on my rental property to be income tax not property value. Welcome to Texas “low Tax State”. Nope not at all
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I’m pretty sure people understood the concept in 1980, after all homebuyers then had parents who literally put cash in the mattress to hide it from market losses. Now, the cash idea was a terrible idea with inflation, but the concept of spreading wealth around existed. Plus many people had pensions then.
My family is going through a disaster of a lengthy process trying to unwind all of my grandfather’s investments in order to separate out the spousal benefit portion that his second wife will get, versus what goes to the Trust (his kids). He was just a farmer his whole life, born in 1922, saw the Depression and would’ve been a prime candidate to put cash in a mattress. Don’t dumb down the people of the past to bolster your argument, they were smart and daring people, they invented nuclear energy and went to the moon for crying out loud.
I’m just saying, yes the issue here is real, but without concrete evidence that former legal precedent was broken willfully, there’s no way they just undo the system in place, even if it’s the right thing to do. They put Derek Chauvin behind bars to prevent a race riot, it was wrong, but the downstream human suffering was protected. Our system does this all the time, sadly. The downstream human suffering that will come from fixing the system will be prevented at all costs, I can be sure of that. Our side of the argument will win once a workaround is found that keeps the majority of the system in place.
Cities will argue in their charter that they are corporations (which they basically are) and that anyone choosing to live within city limits is subject to their taxing authority, therefore you don’t and never did own your house. They will make that argument. To protect the system, the Judges will side with that argument. The county thing is much murkier and that argument that a home without a mortgage need not pay property tax could be potentially winnable, but many county homesteads have commercial income (farms, timber, etc) so some semblance of taxing authority will remain.
That’s the rub. I’m order to prevent all municipalities from failing, they’ll screw over the citizen (or keep screwing them over).
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well, if they touched prop 13 then the illegality of the whole system would be up for debate, so they can’t have that.
Current Update: “Local Gov’t” using Helene to cover their malfeasance!
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“A mafia that says it is a nonprofit charity”.
NJ, last I heard, has a 2% per year cap on the amount property taxes can be raised.
Also, at least in my town in NJ, there is a Senior Freeze on property tax. So whatever your taxes were in the qualifying year, that amount is frozen. You still have to pay all the property tax but then they refund the amount that is over the frozen $ amount.
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Here is what my state did earlier to help everyone with the revalued home assessments
And now they are working on more
MI decades ago passed a bill limiting annual tax increase to (IRC) 2% or inflation rate, whichever was less. I bought a house at the peak of the downfall, and had to fight the city and county to get the value set to the price I paid for the house. I won 
Cities were also limited to their tax rate they could charge. Most cities are maxed out on the rate, and struggling with union employee wages and other expenses. So what did the state do, started raising money via gas tax, raised income tax rate, and professional fees amongst other things.
And cities raised prices on water and sewer to try to make up the difference.
H
And once again VT shows how to do property/education tax fraud right.
Worth opening if just to watch the embedded video where the chair of the ways and means committee and chair of the finance subcommittee on education essentially say that since the funds for education come from property taxes rather than the general fund, expenditures and resultant tradeoffs don’t need to be justified to the taxpayers.
Aaaaargh! Willow
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How does the 2% affect raises in ‘appraisals’?
It’s not about raises in appraisals.
If you dislike your appraisal, you go get your appraisal challenged.
The 2% property tax cap on raises in property tax only applies to the amount of property tax, it is not related to the appraisals.
In MI it’s a little complicated, and cities and counties use the confusion to their advantage. in my former city, the city was essentially completely built out, so they raised house appraisals to increase their revenue. Not sure if this will help explain it, but my understanding is how this article explains it.