LOWER OUR HOMEOWNER TAXES (IN TEXAS). They are out of control (Congress, wages)

[shannon94]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Umm, that dollar amount for Texas is off. It varies from city to city drastically. I have a house in a city w/ an avg rate that is right at $500K and I'm paying less than $12K for 2007. You can look up ANY address thru the county tax office and see what they pay.

And only a $50K income to afford a $400K house NO WAY!!!! That is trouble looming. Here in Texas our annual income is MUCH higher than that, we have a VERY nice home w/ lots of features, pool, etc. Time and money to spend on hobbies and can travel wherever we want. Hmmmmm. Think I'll stick to Texas

Yeah, unfortunatley too many people making 50K actually bought 400k homes in California. Look at them now. I agree that 12k is WAY off. Also...you don't HAVE to spend 400k on a house in Texas. To get anything halfway decent in Cali you DO..

[TerpsandHorns]

David..

First off, no one making 50K a year has any business buying a 400K home.

Your debt to income ratio would be off the charts.

At a 6% fixed 30 year rate, that payment would be $2400 just for the note or 28,800 of your after-tax dollars (58% of your annual gross). Most banks stick to a 38%-42% maximum.

That person would be forced to take interest only stated income adjustable rates....hardly a good idea...

But anyways...

Second, you have to compare apples to apples.

The median price of a home in most texas cities is below 200K.

The median price of a home in California cities is well over 500k.

400K gets you a very nice home in a great suburban neighborhood in Houston, Dallas, Austin, or San Antonio.

400K gets you a 50 year old rundown shack in Los Angeles for any good area. Maybe you can buy single family in a blighted area.

Each person would have to own a similar sized house in a similar neighborhood for any accurate tax burden comparison.

[shannon94]

Originally Posted by TerpsandHorns

David..

First off, no one making 50K a year has any business buying a 400K home.

Your debt to income ratio would be off the charts.

At a 6% fixed 30 year rate, that payment would be $2400 just for the note or 28,800 of your after-tax dollars (58% of your annual gross). Most banks stick to a 38%-42% maximum.

That person would be forced to take interest only stated income adjustable rates....hardly a good idea...

Exactly!! But guess how many did just THAT? Now they're (Gov't) talking about "bailing" these people out. Give me a break!!

[davidt1]

Originally Posted by yakker

David,

I live in California and Proposition 13 applies to me, so I think I can speak with some experience as to its application. It's always easy to blame the parents for not being involved in their children's education when you're assuming everyone is a worse parent than you are. The fact is that our schools are falling apart, and it's not the fault of the parents. In Monterey, where I live, the cost of living is one of the highest in the country. You would think that our schools would reflect that affluence, yet our public high school was in a shameful state, with the roof caving in some classrooms, paint peeling, electrical and plumbing failing, and on and on. The only way we were able to get it fixed was with parent volunteers who donated their talents and time to do the repair work. Local businesses donated material.
When I was attending the same school we had athletics with uniforms, band with instruments and uniforms, and all extracurricular activities paid for with little or no cost to the parents. Kids were bussed to events rather than ferried by hastily arranged car pools. All of that is now a thing of the past and only the more financially fortunate can afford what we all took for granted. The cause of that is greed, poor management, and malfeasance, not strictly bad parenting. It's true that throwing good money after bad is a losing proposition, that's why we all need to be more involved in holding our government responsible for spending our tax dollars wisely. We do that through the ballot box.
As far as those who support Prop 13, most are just making excuses for their greed. Sure, I benefit from this law because I bought my home thirteen years ago. What Prop 13 fails to take into consideration is inflation. My youngest just graduated from College and will begin teaching this fall. Ask her how she feels about Prop 13, and how she is going to find the money in her limited budget to buy supplies for her classroom because the state refuses to pay for it. Is it fair that I live in a house that could sell for close to 800 k and pay property taxes of around 2 k? At some point we all have to come up with an equitable plan, provide what is needed, and demand results from our elected officials.

So if the state doesn't give more money to schools, then it is because of prop 13? Why not blame high gas prices on prop 13 too? How about immigration problems? How about the health care crisis? I really didn't know prop 13 is the cause of the downfall of Ca until now. On the subject of schools, I am wondering how poor countries such as China and India do a much better job at educating kids than we do.

[lifertexan]

In CA,I would pay $ 15,000 between property and state income taxes combined.In TX I pay $ 6000. Anybody who thinks the CA model is something we need to follow to lower taxes needs to go to the nearest community college and enroll in a remedial math course.

[citigirl]

How else do you expect Texas to obtain all the money they need to support all the illegal immigrants. They need those taxes!

[NewToCA]

So, how much is paid for public schooling per kid in California and Texas? Does either state significantly pay more per kid than the other?

[lifertexan]

Well said. I'll take the income taxes any day in Texas for lesser property taxes.

Have you actually done the math?What is your and your spouses total income,and your property appraisal value?I'll bet you come out worse by the CA method.

[Nirvana-Guy]

Originally Posted by toddcast

Do not lower the homeowner’s tax rate just so the county can increase the appraised values of the homes, this does nothing to ease the overburdened Texas homeowners from their astronomical property taxes.

I’m tired of hearing the excuse for our high home taxes "well at least we don’t have a state income tax" with over 20 billion in tax surplus last year, Texas families are being way over taxed as it is. Enough is Enough.

Texas State politicians need to get a grip on their spending habits. This is our money that they are spending. This state needs immediate tax reform, not empty promises, so people can have the American dream, not have it stolen by the politicians of this state.


The ONLY way to provide realistic, intelligent and long-term tax relief to that target population is to search out and determine alternate tax sources that are fair and/or reasonable to the wealthy, middle class and poor. Either one proportional tax or several taxes across-the-board, whereby all Texans share in developing the tax revenue needed to replace the overburdened property tax system.

The People need to organize a grass-roots tax revolution such as was done in California when Proposition 13 was passed by the voters.

(I am not from California I am a native Texan)

California Proposition 13 (1978)

"(a) The maximum amount of any ad valorem tax on real property shall not exceed One percent (1%) of the full cash value of such property. The one percent (1%) tax to be collected by the counties and apportioned according to law to the districts within the counties."

They did that in FL because property taxes were so high. It worked... the problem is the minute you buy a new home, you automatically get slapped with an extremely high property tax bill... and then the taxes on the home cannot go up anymore.

Do a Google search on "Save Our Homes" in Florida. That is the Republican idea that saved homes owned by the elderly and low-income families. The DEmocrats wanted to force Save Our Homes to be eliminated so they can continue to provide unlimited services for illegal aliens and teh Reps ultimately won. You guys should copy the idea and pass a "Save Our Homes".

[lifertexan]

BTW,comprehensive studies that take into account all factors show that illegal aliens actually have a net positive dollar impact on the economy.The Texas economy would suffer if all illegals were deported,contrary to the claims of the right wingers.