abolish property tax?

[Darkpriest667]

Last year we paid 4.7% (less than 5%) of our net income towards property tax. School district took about 55% of that tax burden. Just looked at BCAD and they don’t have my numbers for next year available yet as the county assesses in April and collects in October.

I’m willing to bet my taxable value is significantly higher than yours is, too.

313000 after I argued with them. My tax burden this year will be about 9800 bucks you can do the math. I make about 66k a year (taxable) I dont count my gf or my mom's income as I dont make them pay rent or utilities.

Maybe some people are living in too large of a house for their income.

When I was working, I paid about 2% of my net income toward property taxes.

Percentages don't tell much.

You couldn't afford to live in Williamson or Travis county. I am actually thinking of moving to Arkansas where they calculate property tax on TWENTY PERCENT of the assessed value of the home when it was PURCHASED. and with their state income tax I'd pay about 1500 dollars a year versus damn near 10 grand.

Part of the problem…and people vote for these stadiums?

These are the most expensive high school stadiums in Texas

High school football season has started around the state, and some of those players have...

www.chron.com

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These assholes voted a 140 million dollar bond for a stadium and a few classrooms for a district that has 2105 students. I hopped on every local facebook group and even went door to door to 300 houses. We lost the bond election by 215 votes. Only 1400 people voted.


Edit sorry.. 114 million..

Jarrell ISD Bond 2023

Learn more about the Jarrell ISD Bond 2023 projects and growth.

www.jarrellisdbond.com

 

[Sasquatch]

Oof, $5414 per student, or if you get real, since there's what, 12 first string players and maybe as many second stringers? 4.7M per foosball playing student, and what are the chances that any kid from Jarrell is going to make it to the big leagues?

 

[Sasquatch]

If that $114 million had been spent to recruit the best teachers in the country, fund vo-tech programs so the not-college-bound kids learned a valuable skill like auto repair, welding, construction, heavy equipment operation, or computer tech of some sort I could *almost* see it, if the district was larger anyway. 2105 students in the whole district? The high school I graduated from was 1200 kids, and was fed by two junior high schools and half a dozen or so elementary schools. Each elementary school had 250-300 kids, each junior high was about 600-800. Thats nuts.

 

[Big Dipper]

IMO many, if not most, teachers are doing what they do because they care about their students.

And most, if not all, school administrators do what they do (build huge budgets) because they care about their RESUMES and the next higher paying job they can apply for. In other words few of the give a crap about the students.

 

[busykngt]

Allen's football stadium cost was $60M. Not to be out done, McKinney's cost was $85M. Of course, you'll never read that number anywhere because they only publish the number excluding the cost of land acquisition of $15M (which happened some number of years before). They also typically don't include the extra cost of public road and utility relocation & construction that wasn't initially planned for ($5M).

ETA: Need I say those bonds were voted on and approved by the good citizens (who apparently have no concept of what the words "budget" or "taxes", mean). And speaking of bond issues, almost forgot my favorite thing: new band uniforms were included in the bond issuance, which means it will take thirty years to pay for those band uniforms! (Genius, I tell you....pure genius!).

 

[ronbwolf]

That Texas is the third highest rate in the country is just nuts! The average rate of the 50 states is 1.035% based on the below chart, surely we can get down to that. In land mass Texas is second to Alaska, which is at 1.04%, #21 on the list, and that's where we should be. Hell, Commiefornia, #3 in land mass, is #32, with a rate of 0.74%.

Property Tax Rates By State 2024 - Tax-Rates.org

www.tax-rates.org

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[pronstar]

CA has low property taxes due to Prop 13…details here

http://www.californiataxdata.com/pdf/Prop13.pdf

But they rape taxpayers at every other opportunity. 15% state income tax adds up fast when you have dual good incomes.

And let’s not forget the gas and energy prices…depending on the time of day, I was paying $0.45/kWh for power

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[Axxe55]

As much as I'd love to see an end to property and school taxes, in reality, I just don't see it happening.

Any politician promising an end to property taxes may have good intentions, and their heart in the right place, but in all honesty, I think they are promising something they will never ever be able to deliver on.

Common sense and logic dictate removing one tax, means that the revenue generated from those taxes, will have to come from another source. Whether that be a state income tax, higher sales taxes, or/and, higher fuel and energy costs passed to the consumers.

 

[rotor]

As much as I'd love to see an end to property and school taxes, in reality, I just don't see it happening.

Any politician promising an end to property taxes may have good intentions, and their heart in the right place, but in all honesty, I think they are promising something they will never ever be able to deliver on.

Common sense and logic dictate removing one tax, means that the revenue generated from those taxes, will have to come from another source. Whether that be a state income tax, higher sales taxes, or/and, higher fuel and energy costs passed to the consumers.

Good intentions? From a politician? Just smoke and mirrors. Otherwise I agree with your post.

 

[Axxe55]

Good intentions? From a politician? Just smoke and mirrors. Otherwise I agree with your post.

Yes, good intentions from a politician. I do believe some actually enter politics with good intentions. I think they find out the reality of politics, and find it's a really compromise game of trying to balance good with bad.

 

[toddnjoyce]

This is going to be long, but as of CY2019, here's the Tax Foundation's ranking of total state/local tax burden against (Edit: total) income across the 50 states. The following taxes are included:

• Property taxes;
• General sales taxes;
• Excise taxes on alcoholic beverages, amusements, insurance premiums, motor fuels, pari-mutuels, public utilities, tobacco products, and other miscellaneous transactions;
• License taxes on alcoholic beverages, amusements, general corporations, hunting and fishing, motor vehicles, motor vehicle operators, public utilities, occupations and businesses not classified elsewhere, and other miscellaneous licenses;
• Individual income taxes;
• Corporate income taxes;
• Estate, inheritance, and gift taxes;
• Documentary and transfer taxes;
• Severance taxes;
• Special assessments for property improvements; and
• Miscellaneous taxes not classified in one of the above categories.

From least to most burdensom, here it is:

State	State-Local Effective Tax Rate	Rank
Alaska	5.80%​	50​
Wyoming	7.00%​	49​
Tennessee	7.00%​	48​
Texas	8.00%​	47​
Oklahoma	8.20%​	46​
Arizona	8.70%​	45​
New Mexico	8.80%​	44​
Florida	8.80%​	43​
North Dakota	8.90%​	42​
Georgia	8.90%​	41​
South Carolina	8.90%​	40​
Indiana	8.90%​	39​
Alabama	9.00%​	38​
South Dakota	9.10%​	37​
Louisiana	9.20%​	36​
Missouri	9.20%​	35​
Colorado	9.40%​	34​
Mississippi	9.50%​	33​
North Carolina	9.50%​	32​
Idaho	9.60%​	31​
Utah	9.60%​	30​
Nevada	9.70%​	29​
New Hampshire	9.70%​	28​
Washington	9.80%​	27​
West Virginia	9.90%​	26​
Kentucky	9.90%​	25​
Virginia	10.00%​	24​
Michigan	10.00%​	23​
Kansas	10.10%​	22​
Montana	10.10%​	21​
Ohio	10.30%​	20​
Nebraska	10.30%​	19​
Delaware	10.30%​	18​
Arkansas	10.40%​	17​
Pennsylvania	10.40%​	16​
Massachusetts	10.50%​	15​
Wisconsin	10.70%​	14​
Iowa	10.80%​	13​
Maine	11.00%​	12​
Oregon	11.10%​	11​
Illinois	11.10%​	10​
Rhode Island	11.40%​	9​
California	11.50%​	8​
New Jersey	11.70%​	7​
Maryland	11.80%​	6​
Minnesota	12.10%​	5​
Vermont	12.30%​	4​
Hawaii	12.70%​	3​
Connecticut	12.80%​	2​
New York	14.10%​	1​

Source: https://taxfoundation.org/publications/state-local-tax-burden-rankings/#Results

 

[Darkpriest667]

that seems odd considering this is based on average income.. The average income of a Texan is 30k a year

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/TX

Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2015-2019

$172,500

If that's true then the tax burden on a 172500 house would have to be less than it currently is. The current Texas average is 2.4%

2.4% x 172500 = 4140

Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2019 dollars), 2015-2019

$31,277

4140/31277 = 13.23%

Even if you take the median household income

Median household income (in 2019 dollars), 2015-2019

$61,874

4140/61874 = 6.69%


In property taxes alone.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Some people make more, and don't buy expensive houses....

 

[toddnjoyce]

that seems odd considering this is based on average income.. The average income of a Texan is 30k a year…

From the source’s methodology:

It is also worth noting that our tax burden estimates are not at the individual taxpayer level. Our tax burden estimates look at the aggregate amount of state and local taxes paid, not the taxes paid by an individual. We collect data on the total income earned in a state (by all residents collectively) and estimate the share of that total that goes toward state and local taxes.

 

[Texas42]

that seems odd considering this is based on average income.. The average income of a Texan is 30k a year

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/TX

Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2015-2019

$172,500

If that's true then the tax burden on a 172500 house would have to be less than it currently is. The current Texas average is 2.4%

2.4% x 172500 = 4140

Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2019 dollars), 2015-2019

$31,277

4140/31277 = 13.23%

Even if you take the median household income

Median household income (in 2019 dollars), 2015-2019

$61,874

4140/61874 = 6.69%


In property taxes alone.

I find it hard to believe that the average income in Texas is $30k

 

[V-Tach]

Poverty line is 38K, iirc......

 

[Darkpriest667]

From the source’s methodology:

It is also worth noting that our tax burden estimates are not at the individual taxpayer level. Our tax burden estimates look at the aggregate amount of state and local taxes paid, not the taxes paid by an individual. We collect data on the total income earned in a state (by all residents collectively) and estimate the share of that total that goes toward state and local taxes.

So they calculate the leeches who pay 0 and the illegal immigrants who pay 0 . Jesus no wonder we look so good in that document.

 

[rotor]

Some years back I remember Michael Dell trying to get Dell Computers in Austin property as Ag property as he was putting a herd of cattle on the land. I know lots of rich people who pull these stunts of setting up wildlife sanctuaries and ag exemptions (not really farmers) and there are companies set up just to pull these tax deals. There is a lot of room for improvement in property tax. Want to contest your property tax, there are companies that will do this for a fee. Does it work, I don't know. The average Joe just doesn't benefit from this but the people with money, the big box stores, and I am sure the politicians, all figure out how not to pay their "fair share".

 

[ZX9RCAM]

I have a place contest my taxes every year.
I pay them 50% of what they get knocked off.

 

[rotor]

I have a place contest my taxes every year.
I pay them 50% of what they get knocked off.

Do they save you significant money?