TexasCHLforum.com

Dan Patrick, our Lt. Gov., got into politics for this very reason. I used to listen to him regularly on this radio show before he was elected. Property taxes can go up 10% per year on appraisal increases. The politicians proudly tell us they didn’t raise our taxes (the rate). Of course not, you just got 8-10% because of the “appraisal creep.” Additionally their lobbyists (Texas Municipal League for cities and Texas Association of Counties for counties) use our tax dollars to go to Austin and lobby AGAINST the issues of the citizens. Why should our property taxes be based on increased property values? If you buy your house and the appraised value doubles over the years (7.2 years at 10% annual increase), you’ve paid that increase all along. If you buy Apple stock and it doubles, you don’t pay tax on the gains until you sell it. Why not limit increases to something based on population growth and that capped at a low percentage? I know he has gotten bills through the Senate to this effect but they never made it out of the House. Maybe with Strauss gone we can get some help next legislative session.