Property taxes in the Houston suburbs - Democratic Underground

Mizmoon

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Thu Oct-06-05 07:51 AM
Original message

Property taxes in the Houston suburbs

I'm from New York and I've been thinking about relocating to the Houston area. That means I have been looking at lots of home listings. I must ask - what on earth is up with the property taxes? I saw one house on which the taxes were $7,000 per year. Another it was $8,000. Plus we all know property tax goes up every year. I just had to say ,"Damn!"

I thought your Texas repukes were anti-taxes. This level of taxation even puts "taxachussets" to shame.

Thanks for listening :)

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crispini

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Thu Oct-06-05 07:59 AM
Response to Original message

1. We have no state income tax.

So absolutely EVERYTHING is paid for by the sales tax, the property tax, and a mishmash of business taxes.

I was at a Dem function last night and people were BEGGING for an income tax + property tax rollback. That's a political third rail down here, but people are at least starting to talk about it.

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hobbit709

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Thu Oct-06-05 08:00 AM
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2. Yest, they're anti-tax

At the state and federal level. So since all funding at those levels has been slashed, local taxes have skyrocketed. When we bought our house in Austin in 1990, the taxes were about $450/yr. Last year it was $2200. The cities and counties have no state and federal matching funds for many services, so to keep basic services like police, fire, hospitals, etc., somebody has to pay for it. And let's not forget the school financing fiasco, where districts with money are forced to pay for schools in poor districts because the state won't pay for it directly.

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Arkansas Democrat

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Thu Oct-06-05 08:05 AM
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3. Yikes!

I have a niece in The Colony, Texas and she's really upset about the property taxes! She's a Republican too and blames it on the Governor????

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crispini

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Thu Oct-06-05 09:08 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. Ha ha ha. Your niece probably pays HALF the property taxes I do.

I live in Dallas county. She lives in Denton county. Seven surrounding counties in North Texas, including Denton, have no county hospital, so they ALL send their uninsured to Dallas County for medical treatment.

Guess who's paying that tax bill? Dallas county taxpayers. :mad:

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johncoby2

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Thu Oct-06-05 08:40 AM
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4. Look at the statistics...

My home's taxes were fairly stable from 1993-2000. Then in 2000 they began increasing. Hum......1993-2000 who was in office? 2000-today who is in office?

Look at this chart:

http://www.hctax.net/chart/chart.asp?AcctNum=1167570100012

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Mizmoon

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Thu Oct-06-05 09:12 AM
Response to Reply #4

6. Harris and Montgomery is where I've been looking

I couldn't get the data to load in that table, though.

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lavenderdiva

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Thu Oct-06-05 11:36 AM
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7. if you move to Harris county,

Edited on Thu Oct-06-05 11:36 AM by lavenderdiva

don't forget to include HISD (Harris County Independent School District) taxes as well.... They are also pretty steep. Ours last year were over $3000. I think (somebody here correct this, as I'm not sure if I'm correct about this) the HISD taxes are a percentage of your property value. This is in addition to your actual property taxes.

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Mizmoon

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Thu Oct-06-05 11:53 AM
Response to Reply #7

8. What's up with the MUD tax?

What is that? Is that something that's in addition to the school and property tax?

Sometimes when we're daydreaming about a ranch we look at rural ads that say something about "ag exemption". Does anyone know what that is?

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GOPisEvil

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Thu Oct-06-05 12:03 PM
Response to Reply #8

9. Sounds like a special taxing district.

Municipal Utility District maybe?

If you use your property as an agricultural business, you get a break on your taxes.

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