Various Property Taxes (Dallas, Austin, Plano: appraiser, incomes, hospital)

[Trainwreck20]

This is a sample of a few property taxes in the three county area:



Pretty much everyone will pay county and school district. If you are not in a city, then you will not pay the city tax, but there is usually one or more misc property taxes, such as an emergency services district, a municipal utilities district, or community college taxing district.

While looking through this, it appears that the county homestead exemption is 20% or $5,000, whichever is larger, whereas the city (Austin) exemption is a flat $15,000. That could make a significant difference. Not having lived in the county in forever, can anyone confirm that this is correct?

Anyway, it looks like a typical city of Austin tax rate would be about 2.75%, which would be about $5100/year on a $200k house, or $425 per month (assuming only a homestead exemption).

EDIT: Opps, just thought it through, and I guess the 20% homestead exemption applies to the county tax regardless of whether you are in the city or not, so that will not really be a difference.

[southaustingal]

There is some variance in these rates, too. Several neighborhoods in Dripping Springs have a rate of $3.25, as opposed to rates in other Drippin' neighborhoods of about $2.80. The county usually has tax info broken down by neighborhood, so you can see if your neighborhood is paying for a special road or water.

Also, according to my state representative, appraisals will be considered when the session commences. Right now the cap is 10% increase per year, which is a substantial sum when you're talking about a $300K property. Apparently counties all over Texas are getting whalloped with huge appraisals, so even though the tax rates are decreasing, the appraisals are keeping the taxes high and on a rapid increase. Sure makes me wonder how folks on fixed incomes can keep their homes.

[Trainwreck20]

I looked at the tax websites for each of the counties (wcad.org, traviscad.org, and hayscad.org, if anyone is interested), and there were an AMAZING number of taxing entities. If anyone if interested, you can go there and see all of 'em. I pulled a couple of random addresses (one in the city and one in the county) to get the tax rates for my hypothetical, so there can be quite a bit of variation.

Hopefully, if you are moving (or thinking of moving) from out of state, you can get an idea of what property taxes might be here as compared to where you are. They are definitely significant!

[gigi927]

That is really awesome info, Trainwreck. I had to do a lot of my own research in the whole tax realm several months back; your short blurb would have saved me tons of time! We are in an unusual situation; our house is in Travis County,b ut school district is Leander (Williamson County) so we have to file our exemptions in two counties and the whole bit. It got really complicated!

[Just Lookin]

Originally Posted by southaustingal

There is some variance in these rates, too. Several neighborhoods in Dripping Springs have a rate of $3.25, as opposed to rates in other Drippin' neighborhoods of about $2.80. The county usually has tax info broken down by neighborhood, so you can see if your neighborhood is paying for a special road or water.

Also, according to my state representative, appraisals will be considered when the session commences. Right now the cap is 10% increase per year, which is a substantial sum when you're talking about a $300K property. Apparently counties all over Texas are getting whalloped with huge appraisals, so even though the tax rates are decreasing, the appraisals are keeping the taxes high and on a rapid increase. Sure makes me wonder how folks on fixed incomes can keep their homes.

That is what I was so worried about on another post. Being retired on a fixed income. 10% is very high. We here in California don't have our taxes raised every year and we don't go by the neighborhood either. We get charged 1% of the selling price with an exemption of $7000.

This is why my Realtor told me to buy a house that cost less than $90,000 that has already been remodeled. Starting to sound good to me.

[ICANHELP]

You do have to remember that there is no State Income Tax in TX, so although Property Taxes can be high, that can help the overall Tax bill when comparing to other areas.

[southaustingal]

I'm not completely sure on the law, but I believe once you hit 65 years, you can freeze your taxes where they are. There might be some conditions. I heard once that you should not move past the age of 65 cause you'll have to pay current taxes on your new home.

1% with an exemption would be sweeeet. But like someone pointed out, we don't have a state income tax, so if you can find a cheaper home, you'll make out OK. I don't know what you can get for $90K around here, and if you remodel, the taxing authorities will raise the taxes since they're based on market value of the home (not on size or price of purchase). A friend of mine turned her garage into an office but kept the garage door on, so the county wouldn't see that she'd made an improvement. Somehow they knew, and she paid for the improvement on the next year's taxes. Those appraisers know every trick in the book.

[momof2dfw]

southaustingirl,
No, your property taxes do not freeze at 65. Well, not ALL of them. Here is the info that I have posted before but it is from the Dallas County Tax Appraisal office

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Over-65 Homestead Exemption

You may qualify for this exemption on the date you become age 65. You must submit proof of age. Acceptable proof includes a copy of the front side of your driver's license or a copy of your birth certificate. If you qualify for the Over-65 Exemption, there is a property tax “ceiling” that automatically limits School taxes to the amount you paid in the year that you qualified for the homestead and Over-65 exemption. A County, City or Junior College may also limit taxes for the Over-65 Exemption if they adopt a tax ceiling. Tax ceiling amounts can increase if you add improvements to your home (i.e. adding a garage, room or pool).

In addition, Over-65 homeowners who purchase or move into a different home in Texas may also transfer the percentage of school taxes paid, based on the former home’s school tax ceiling. This is commonly referred to as a Ceiling Transfer. To transfer your tax ceiling for the purposes of County, City or Junior College District taxes, however, you must move to another home within the same taxing unit. You must request a certificate from the Appraisal District for the former home and take it to the Appraisal District for the new home, if it is in a different district.

[southaustingal]

Definitely sounds like the over-65 thing varies from county to county. I know folks in Podunk, Texas, who are 80 and pay barely any taxes, but then there aren't many taxes to start with. I'd imagine around here, as well as in other major cities, the taxing authority will still get ya.

[momof2dfw]

There are a lot of variables that go into the property taxes. For instance, Dallas County has Parkland Hospital - a county hospital supported by property taxes. Collin County (home of Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney) do not have a county hospital, do not send any monies to Parkland but they do send their uninsured citizens to Parkland. Your rural counties are not going to have a county hospital most likely. They are also likely to not have a county community college. So there are some advantages there to living in a small rural county w/o these "frills". Then there is the school issue. We have Robin Hood..... I do care about the kids in ALL of Texas as they could very well be the ones that find the cure all for cancer. I want them ALL to get a good, solid education. I don't really have a problem w/ spreading the wealth around when it comes to education so that our ENTIRE state can be better educated. If 1/2 of Texas is pretty darn poor when it comes to being able to educate their student population it will reflect on those that do have the means. So it does come around to effect all of us if we let the poor districts go to fend for themselves.

After reading many posts on other states I am glad that Texas does NOT freeze the property taxes on those over 65 or freeze it at the sales price. Look at California for example. Not a pretty sight to say the least. I think we should all share the burden when it comes to taxes. I know, I know, limited income... I will be there some day and sooner than later . But I SHOULD pay for the roads to be kept up and all of the other things that I will use at that time. But the states w/ this problem the burden is not shared. Those that bought their houses at a low, low price but are still reaping the benefits of the schools, roads, libraries, city services, etc are cheating those that are looking to buy and in a way their own children and their grandchildren. There have been reports that the American Dream is now gone and can not be acheived by our younger generation. In states that freeze property taxes at 65 or the sales price are the worst ones. This same issue has come up w/ cities in Texas that did freeze their property taxes for those over 65. If those that are over 65 flock to those cities for that reason only what does that do in the longrun? We need to look at the longterm effects and the WHOLE picture.