Sign to Support Property Tax Reform - Lt. Gov. Patrick

[bblhd672]

http://danpatrick.org/action-center/?ut ... ent=sb2_v1

Property taxes are driving people out of their homes and hampering business expansion and growth. That’s why the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 2, a strong property tax reform package during the regular legislative session. We will continue the fight for real property tax reform during a special session in July. Sign below to join me in the continued fight for true property tax reform in Texas.

[powerboatr]

where is the actual text of the plan to fix property taxes?
ours are not low, but they are not that high either comparatively to services, with exception of our sheriffs department that hides behind "you live in a gated community" and wont do anything about the crack heads or drunk drivers

[Papa_Tiger]

As has been said by others, property tax reform is meaningless unless the school district taxes are dealt with at the same time. ISD taxes are the lion's share of the property taxes I pay.

[bblhd672]

where is the actual text of the plan to fix property taxes?

Perhaps this? http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup ... R&Bill=SB2

[ninjabread]

As has been said by others, property tax reform is meaningless unless the school district taxes are dealt with at the same time. ISD taxes are the lion's share of the property taxes I pay.

Adding insult to injury is the quality of graduates they churn out for the rapacious taxes.

[Ruark]

Just what "property tax relief" is being proposed? Counties use property taxes like an ATM. It's nuts. I put up a little carport to park my tractor under: pow, here comes the county making me pay annual property taxes on it.

We also pay "double taxes." We live in one county and pay full property taxes for that county. However, we're in a school district of a school located in a nearby county, so we pay THAT county's taxes as well. Never mind the fact that we're about 50 years past having any kids in school......

So what is this "property tax relief"? For me, it's in the category of "I'll believe it when I see it."

[srothstein]

The big change in the property tax reform bill was the limit of an 8% raise in effective rate before triggering a mandatory rollback election. Currently the election is triggered only if someone files a petition asking for it. Schools already have this provision, so it cannot be a change for schools and this is why cities and counties are being added. A second change was a proposal to limit the increase to the inflation rate combined with an increase in population instead of the flat rate 8%.

Cities and counties are fighting this bill pretty hard. Cities have no limit on their property tax increases other than posting and hearings before it goes in and the potential rollback if someone files a petition. Counties have a constitutional limit on the total taxes they can impose. It can be no more than $1.10/$100 valuation, but I note that in 2015, Jim Hogg County levied a tax of $1.196053/$100 valuation. I can see how some form of reform might be needed somewhere along these lines.

As an aside, while Jim Hogg County was the highest, Midland county was the lowest at $.148011/$100. Cherry picking the data for the extremes can lead to interesting debates on what is really needed.

[FCMatt]

Just what "property tax relief" is being proposed? Counties use property taxes like an ATM. It's nuts. I put up a little carport to park my tractor under: pow, here comes the county making me pay annual property taxes on it.

We also pay "double taxes." We live in one county and pay full property taxes for that county. However, we're in a school district of a school located in a nearby county, so we pay THAT county's taxes as well. Never mind the fact that we're about 50 years past having any kids in school......

So what is this "property tax relief"? For me, it's in the category of "I'll believe it when I see it."

Check this out. A bill that resolves "double tax" disputes just passed.
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup ... ill=SB2242

[srothstein]

Just what "property tax relief" is being proposed? Counties use property taxes like an ATM. It's nuts. I put up a little carport to park my tractor under: pow, here comes the county making me pay annual property taxes on it.

We also pay "double taxes." We live in one county and pay full property taxes for that county. However, we're in a school district of a school located in a nearby county, so we pay THAT county's taxes as well. Never mind the fact that we're about 50 years past having any kids in school......

So what is this "property tax relief"? For me, it's in the category of "I'll believe it when I see it."

Just for technical accuracy, you do not pay taxes for the second county, just for the ISD that you are in. Every property in Texas is in exactly one county and exactly one ISD. Some are also in a city, and one or more special taxing districts, but not all. Each taxing entity may choose who they want to assess and collect their taxes. In the simplest case, all taxing entities contract with the same assessor collector and you get one bill. One example of this is El Paso County where all of the agencies contract with the city of El Paso to collect the taxes. In the worst case, each taxing unit contracts with a different agency and you get multiple bills. For example, in Harris County, there are about a dozen different agencies collecting taxes. IIRC, Stafford ISD contracts with the Fort Bend County Assessor-Collector for the tax collection. This makes it look like you are paying taxes for Fort Bend County when you really live in Harris County and get their bill also. If you look closely at the bills, they come from the two different counties, but only one lists the county taxes.

[srothstein]

Check this out. A bill that resolves "double tax" disputes just passed.
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup ... ill=SB2242

Did you see how specifically that bill is written? It only applies to the current dispute between Nueces and San Patricio counties, who cannot seem to agree where the boundary between them is. There are a couple refineries down there that received bills from both counties and were not happy. And since they are pretty big values, the taxes are large enough to catch the legislature's attention.

[FCMatt]

True, I expected that, but it didn't look like the bill restricted the court to just the one fight. I just don't know if a county on one side and school district on the other would qualify for being similar enough for the above poster to have a case.

Looks like those population limits they put in are to make things screwy though.

[anygunanywhere]

The fantasy that our taxes will somehow decrease is just that, a fantasy. The states, counties, and all the rest of the taxing entities will still get their quartof blood even if property taxes are decreased. Once they get their teeth in your leg they don't let go.

[treadlightly]

Property tax reform will just be "corrected" with tax evaluations. The system is inherently corrupt.

Last year the local Appraisal Review Board ignored my public information act requests until the AG's office sent them a letter detailing the error in their ways, but they still refused to cough up the minutes I'd asked for.

I own property in an economically depressed area that can't be sold for more than a song. I'm not sure that's my best option, but I'm starting to think so.

My retirement savings, not extensive, are gone. I'm still struggling with last year's loan taken out against my life insurance. I figure I might have $8,000 saved up by tax time but I'm not sure how to dredge up the last $10,000. I could get a mortgage loan against a rent house, but there's maybe $2,000 in closing costs.

If I can see a way to have the money by May or so, I could pay the missing money with a credit card. High interest, no closing costs.

That's when I found out something interesting. Texas has a law against a vendor charging a surcharge for credit card transactions. I don't know if I agree with that, since the credit card brings extra fees, but I'm really uncomfortable with laws that don't apply to the government. The State is exempt from the law prohibiting surcharges. A 2.5% charge applies for putting taxes on a credit card, for those facing final options to struggle through.

Then a representative from the credit card processor involved told me the actual charge depends on what card is used, and that the rate probably peaks at 1.6%. That's anecdotal, though, a best guess, but it appears there may be more than cost recovery. There is no surcharge for paying with a check, or cash, or any method, even though all payment methods require labor.

So I called the tax assessor and asked for a copy of the contract with the credit card processor. Her answer was I would get that only with a formal request under the Texas Public Information Act, and only after it was reviewed by counsel. Contracts for government services, even if the contract stipulates secrecy, are public information. I have the request written, including the relevant sections from Government Code 552 (the Public Information Act).

Then she put me on hold, entertaining me with Lynyrd Skynyrd's "What's Your Name." A second session on hold kept my foot tapping with Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die."

I'm not sure the County pays ASCAP, but I think I'll find out. They've pushed my buttons long enough, and I think I'd like to see them held to the letter of the law. Any law. Just one. Something, anything, some sign I'm not the only one limited by society's rules.

There are many examples of corruption in Texas government. I was born, raised, and happy to live here, but the State ain't perfect.

[nonleg]

Realtors are pushing tax rate reform, because their commissions are based upon valuations, so they won't say a peep about that. *And* people continue to vote for bond issues for all entities ensuring their tax rates essentially can't go down unless assessment values go up to compensate.

Ultimately, the county tax assessor is elected. In west Houston (Fort Bend County), the assessor has run unopposed since I've lived here (~five years.) Her office has continued to hammer people with default 8-10% increases, even through massive layoffs in oil and gas. And yet nobody runs against her. Contrast that with parts of Tarrant county where we were house shopping, and seeing tax rate changes on comparable houses of (2013 - 1.6%, 2014 - 0%, 2015 - 2.3%) made me want to vomit. On *top* of all of that, I have repeatedly seen people in 400-800k houses not even attempt to dispute their taxes at all, which contributes to the problem. When the sheep just "baaa" all the way to the slaughterhouse, why change anything?
I have a strong suspicion that because so many people escrow their taxes, the extra money per month becomes invisible, hence less complaining than is warranted.

[Ruark]

The fantasy that our taxes will somehow decrease is just that, a fantasy. The states, counties, and all the rest of the taxing entities will still get their quartof blood even if property taxes are decreased. Once they get their teeth in your leg they don't let go.

My feeling as well. I suspect this "property tax relief" is, like with many issues, just an attempt to have the appearance of doing something, while actually doing nothing. Meanwhile, the masses, dazed by their exploding property taxes, will excitedly follow like lemmings.