Property taxes levied by Texas’ large cities are growing faster than many people can afford. | Thomas Park/Unsplash
Property taxes levied by Texas’ large cities are growing faster than many people can afford. | Thomas Park/Unsplash
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are examining how to reduce property taxes in the state of Texas as they continue to rise faster than inflation and population growth, according to a recent report.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan research institute based in Austin. The organization reported that Laredo's property tax rose 22.4%, from $79.6 million to $97.5 million, from 2016 to 2020. The city’s combined population and inflation rose by just 6.8% in that time period, leading to a 15.6% difference.
Laredo, along with Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, El Paso, Arlington, Corpus Christi, and Plano, all experienced a decrease in population during those four years.
According to a TPPF report titled "Just the Facts, 2nd Edition," approximately half of the tax funds gathered by the state in 2019 were property taxes. The report was written by James Quintero and Anthony Jones.
The report noted that there were 4,256 distinct property taxing units in fiscal year 2019, some of which intersect. A statement in the report said, "The laws and systems surrounding Texas’ property tax are notoriously complicated, oftentimes requiring a taxpayer to seek help through consultants, accountants, advocates, and attorneys."
Tax laws are multifaceted and are outpacing the preferred rate of growth, a factor that accounts for population growth plus inflation, according to the TPPF report.
"It’s not a stretch to say that property taxes are out of control in the Lone Star State," Quintero, a policy director at the TPPF, said in a newsletter dated March 3. "As a result, local governments are getting rich while families are forced to make hard decisions."
The Balance reported that Texas is among the 10 states with the highest property tax rates in the country. The real estate tax paid by the state's citizens averages out to $4,065 per year.
The Tax Foundation reported last year that Texas had the sixth-highest property tax rate when measured as a percentage of owner-occupied housing value in 2019.
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