Texas Property Taxes (Austin: sales, apartment complexes, renters)

[shells]

I feel the home owners in Texas carry almost all the weight for funding schools, roads etc. It's as if they are punished for owning! I hear that their is no state income tax, but if there were it would be so much more balanced. The homeowners would pay much less property taxes and the weight of the burden would be shared by working renters also. The amount of income taxes per month is alot less then the monthly requirement now from the prop taxes.
What do ya all think? I want to move to Texas from Cali. The gangs are so out of control here, my husbands family lives in Austin. We love it there. But for a 250-300, 000 house the annual burden is about 6-8 thousand! That is 5-7 hundred bucks per month! Plus mortgage, but it's still better then living in L.A.

[TERRIE]

We Paid 7,000 In Taxes On Our $630,000 Home In Alta Loma, Ca In 04!...and Still Paid State Income Tax!.....so, Tx Taxes Don't Shock Me Too Much Coming From So Cal....we'd Still Be Way Ahead Of The Game In Tx, With A $300,000 Home:d

[gigi927]

Yes, property taxes can be an adjustment...they are high here. But cost of living is lower than compared to many parts of CA. We're paying a little over $2 for gas right now; I was in Oakland 3 weeks ago and they were paying well over $2.50...so you have to look at total picture, not just property taxes alone.

[AustinGuy]

Originally Posted by shells

I feel the home owners in Texas carry almost all the weight for funding schools, roads etc. It's as if they are punished for owning! I hear that their is no state income tax, but if there were it would be so much more balanced. The homeowners would pay much less property taxes and the weight of the burden would be shared by working renters also. The amount of income taxes per month is alot less then the monthly requirement now from the prop taxes.

I hate our property tax system as much as everyone else, but I think you are drawing some false conclusions. Renters in Texas DO pay property taxes indirectly -- their landlords just pass it through into the cost of renting the units. It's actually a double whammy for renters since renting costs are higher than they would be if we didn't have the high property taxes, and unlike owners, renters don't have the luxury of writing off their property taxes against their federal income tax.

The other thing to consider is that if suddenly Texas adopted a Prop 13 style system with a 1% property tax fixed to the time of purchase, those 250k-300k homes in Austin would no longer be 250k-300k. My guess is that they would rise in price 20%+ a year for 2-3 years. Of course, this is only a guess, but they certainly would cost more than they do now.

I also have to disagree that if we switched to income tax, that most peoples tax burdens would be less. In California, they have an income tax that quickly maxes out around 9%. Depending on your & your spouses income, it is pretty easy to see how you could pay more in income tax than property tax on a 250k house in Austin.

[shells]

Thanks, all of you. You have given me a some valuable information. You are right, I didn't look at the whole picture. Im still comming there with my 2 kids and hubby. Im so excited but sad that our great state has gone to the ....well illegals and gangs. Or local politics are a joke! So is our State and Fed gov though! I do look forward to a beautiful state like Texas, feeling that our kids will not have to dodge bullets anymore. It is unsafe with the drive by shootings. Innocent people are hit alot. Im an ER nurse and the things I see are unbelievable and so sad. So so scary. I have teens.
I hope I get a good job when I move there. What's the norm salary for R.N.'s?

[jwb123]

I HATE the property tax situation here. It's my one real HATE of the area. Everything else is GRAND

It doesnt even out, in WA we didn't have state income tax, and still had good schools - with much less tax.

In addition to taxes, utilities and insurances costs are very high.

The rest of the cost of living is really good though... I just hate the taxes... it's bad.

[TanikaW]

I moved here from California. I am with you on the taxes! I thought they were outrageous! Until I sat down and actually looked at it this year. In California I paid $4000 ( MelloRoos Taxes) plus state income taxes of $9000 for a total of $13000 Ouch! This year in Texas I paid $7500 in property taxes. Still a savings of over $6K! They key is I never noticed the taxes in California since they are taken right out of my paycheck. I notice them here since I get a bill for them. I did also notice when I moved here to Texas a 10% increase on my paychecks. In the end it all works it self out.

[AustinTraveler]

I totally relate to Jenbar. I too moved here from a state with no income taxes (Florida). I lived in a waterfront home in North Florida and paid around $2,200 in property taxes. Of course, the reason for the low tax bill was because the county tax assessor low balled all the home values. I believe our home was assessed at less than $200K.

Anyway, after a hurricane ravaged the home, I sold it "as is" for $400K. We're talking no walls, no appliances, no fixtures, etc. That shows you how low the tax assessed value was compared to market price. Here in Texas, property is valued much closer to market value.

The way I look at it, at least you know what to expect with taxes here. In Florida, the tax millage rate may be lower, but they just collect the taxes they need by increasing the assessed value. By the way, two years later, the new owners of the house we sold are paying $5K in taxes. I won't even go into what they pay for insurance!

High property taxes or not, I'm really glad to be in Austin!

[cdelena]

Texas has now moved up to #9 in the country in property taxes; but the stat can be misleading because it is calculated as per capita amount. I know NJ is number one and their taxes don’t seem much worse than ours. Mine have gone up the maximum 10% each year for the last ten years with no end in sight. It is one of the reasons I am leaving the state.

BTW, although landlords do pay property taxes, all the apartment complexes I have investigated use the 'income' method to determine tax which results in lower taxes. It appears to me they pay a fraction of the per capita tax paid by homeowners.

It is also interesting to see how low the appraisals are for multi-million dollar estates and commercial properties. While MLS reveals the sales value of the property of us 'average Joes', the big estates and commercial guys trade without disclosure. Audits have shown many are appraised at half the sales value. Apparently the state is trying to require sales price disclosure for all.

[Trainwreck20]

The house down the street from me (SW Austin) sold at 127% of appraised value. My house I just sold in N. Austin sold for about 120% of appraised value. Of course, I am assuming realtor fees accounted for 6% of both of those; however, appraised values are almost never at or above true market value (at least not in our appreciating value market).