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Governor Abbott, Tear Down This Wall of Property Tax Increases!

Posted by Mike Askins on Monday, January 28th, 2019 at 11:07am.

The Great Texas Property Tax Grab Must END in 2019

Whether he knows it or not, by the time Governor Abbott leaves office, he will most likely have presided over the largest property tax increase in Texas history, unless sweeping assessment adjustments soon occur, especially in and around Texas' largest metropolitan areas. 

While Abbott generally offers support for President Trump's Federal tax reduction efforts, home ownership has become increasingly less affordable in part due to the widespread practices of Texas Central Appraisal Districts over inflating real property values, causing property tax bills to soar. And if that weren't bad enough, Federal property tax deductions under the new Federal Tax Laws are now capped at $10,000, adding insult to injury. 

As we head towards yet another "property tax" assessment battle this spring, Texas homeowners increasingly find themselves having to file tax protests to combat overly inflated property tax assessments.

With the Texas real estate markets up against financial headwinds resulting from nine interest rate increases, increasing homeowner insurance costs, rising home prices, and let's not forget runaway health care costs, Texas homeowners today need property tax relief in the form of lower assessed values by the various County Appraisal Districts.

Gov. Abbott's proposed future property tax solution to limit tax increases to 2.5% won't undo the tax burden excesses of the past six years. A better solution is a property tax rollback of at least 20% on assessed property values. That would take out most of the excessive taxation and help improve overall home affordability, especially in Texas Metro areas.

If the various CAD (Central Appraisal Districts) won't reduce a property's assessed value, then home buyers can scour D/FW area communities for lower tax rates. While various unincorporated locations surrounding D/FW do offer lower taxes, many households are not able to make that type of move due to school and work considerations. View Dallas Fort Worth Tax Rates.

Historically, Texas property taxes were assessed on a tax value that was comfortably below real market value, but today, property tax assessments for a growing percentage of D/FW homeowners, have exceeded 100% of current market values, placing higher than fair tax burdens on homeowners.

Sure, maybe no one expected the sharp rise in property values that occurred since 2012, but alarm bells should have been sounding that aggressive double-digit speculative tax increases across a span of multiple years would not be a sustainable tax policy. Texas now has the 3rd Highest Property Taxes in the U.S.

The Property Tax Man ComethStill, the sky is not falling, as overall taxation in Texas at 8.15% ranks 33rd out of 50 States. However, just nine short years ago, Texas was ranked 45th, so the trend towards higher taxes in Texas is real. Today, New York at 13.04% is the highest taxed State and Alaska at 4.94 the least.

Mike Askins

Mike Askins, Realtor, Owner ARG, 20 Years of Client Services
Got questions for Realtor Mike? Call me at 214-727-3686 (mobile)

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