Austin property taxes jump 38% over past decade (mortgage, home equity loan)

[BevoLJ]

I think that city and state entities should pay property taxes. Even if they are just paying taxes to themselves. In most every city the downtowns and central areas subsidize a big portion of the cities. But with Austin having so much of its highest valued real estate as nontaxable that just isn't possible. So the burden falls on the rest of the city to pay for infrastructure and resources for those huge entities that pay no taxes.

With no income taxes in Texas, property taxes are very important.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

I remain steady in my belief that property taxes are a "lesser of evils" choice for Texas:

- the vast majority of property taxes are spent within the county they are collected
- the state legislature cannot take property taxes and spend them in another area
- we have at least the potential to kick out of office the abusers of tax revenue since they are in our districts.
- property taxes are less volatile than income taxes, which steadies government services. California overcommits to spending when the economy is on fire, then suffers badly when income (personal and corporate) falls.

Property taxes mean that people feel the bite of taxes and can make the appropriate decision to not raise property taxes. Property taxes are stil not too high, otherwise people would be voting against the bond proposals.

[Austin97]

Property taxes should never drive people out of their homes.

If your home was 200K and is now 500K, you can simply get a home equity loan for 100K and use that to pay additional property taxes for the next 20 years.It is never a bad thing for your property value to go up

[scm53]

Originally Posted by yam

Property taxes are higher because we're subsidizing more unwanted growth that we used to. I'd be happy to pay high taxes if most of the money was spent on things relevant to my central neighborhood, but unfortunately we pay high taxes despite godawful infrastructure here in central Austin so we can subsidize beautiful infrastructure and public works in the exurbs where the typical house pays one quarter as much. Or to attract more business and development that we don't need and can't handle. Tell me again why Avery ranch got limited access onramps before the intersection of Ben white and I35? Or why aisd wanted to close the schools despite plenty of kids, excellent scores, and high tax base? Or why we had three water main breaks the same day in my neighborhood and yet still no plans to replace the system, sixty years old and designed for half the density it now serves? Or why the Robert E Lee bridge along zilker park has had a broken guardrail and cracked columns for over a year now with no indication of repair plans? All so we can spend the tax dollars subsidizing growth we wouldn't want even if it were free.

And if that's not enough, perhaps we should discuss capital metro's train to nowhere.

If one were to look at the 2006 and 2010 bond packages, there are hundreds of millions in spending on "beautiful infrastructure and public works" in central Austin, and comparatively very little in Austin north of 45th or south of Ben White. Projects include:

$10M Pfluger pedestrian bridge and extension
$17M E 7th Street reconstruction
$90M New Central library
$10M rebuild of Zachary Scott theater
$5M Mexic-Arte museum
$12M 3rd Street reconstruction
$10M Shoal Creek Allandale drain reconstruction
$9M. Colorado St reconstruction from 3rd to 10th
$14M. Lady Bird Lake boardwalk

As far as the school closing "plan", I've seen AISD work enough to know those schools would NEVER close. AISD has excess capacity in central Austin, and something has to give. By announcing those schools as "closing", they got you and your neighbors as their allies when it came time to close schools in less politically active neighborhoods. Classic Washington Monument Strategy, and you guys were willingly played like drums.

[orngkat]

If your home was 200K and is now 500K, you can simply get a home equity loan for 100K and use that to pay additional property taxes for the next 20 years.It is never a bad thing for your property value to go up

I will add this to our list of ways we can afford as we get old to pay the taxes on our very modest central Austin home.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by orngkat

I will add this to our list of ways we can afford as we get old to pay the taxes on our very modest central Austin home.

Your tax rate is frozen after a certain age. And also add reverse mortgage to the list. If you have been there so long as to have your taxes increase that much, and you are that old, then you most likely owe nothing on the mortgage, unless you made some really bad financial decisions.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by mm57553

Your tax rate is frozen after a certain age. And also add reverse mortgage to the list. If you have been there so long as to have your taxes increase that much, and you are that old, then you most likely owe nothing on the mortgage, unless you made some really bad financial decisions.

The senior exemption doesn't freeze all taxes. It freezes school taxes, usually the biggest portion.

[Trainwreck20]

It freezes school taxes, usually the biggest portion.

And it only freezes the appraised value, not the actual tax rate, so taxes can creep up a bit still.

[orngkat]

If you have been there so long as to have your taxes increase that much, and you are that old, then you most likely owe nothing on the mortgage, unless you made some really bad financial decisions.

Our taxes were $2900 in 1998 when we purchased the house; they are now $5900.

[ITO]

Originally Posted by Austin97

Property taxes mean that people feel the bite of taxes and can make the appropriate decision to not raise property taxes. Property taxes are still not too high, otherwise people would be voting against the bond proposals.

I cant help to think this is a bit naive.

1) People who rent, pay property taxes but are not directly connected to them because the taxes are buried in the rent. and therefore don't necessarily feel connected to them or even think about them. They also vote.

2) Students at UT also vote and property taxes may not be on their radar either because they rent or live in dorms.

Feel good bond issues can be vary appealing to these groups who do not think taxing rich people with big houses is such a bad thing.

3) Most people who own a house and have a loan escrow their taxes in the mortgage note and while still paying the taxes are not doing so directly, and in a way these taxes are hidden from sight.

For most people to make the appropriated decisions they would need to write those checks themselves in December (no later than Feb-1) and then they might feel a bit different about some of those bonds proposals. In fact if we passed a law prohibiting mortgage companies from escrowing property tax, I believe it would only take one year and there would be a tax revolution in this state.

The same applies to income tax, if we all had to cut that check each year there would be a whole different attitude about government spending.