Texas has spent billions of dollars to drive down property taxes. Many homeowners saw a significant tax cut last year, per a Texas Tribune analysis.
, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
On average, the selected homeowners — whose property taxes peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic — saw their total property tax bill fall nearly 28% in 2023 compared with the previous year. When adjusted for inflation, most homeowners’ tax bills were lower in 2023 than in 2018 — the year before GOP legislators embarked on their current push to tamp down property tax bills.
“The bottom line is that it's a much more taxpayer-friendly environment, particularly for homeowners, than it was before 2019, and even more so after last year's increase in the homestead exemption,” said Lynn Krebs, a research economist at the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University.
The longtime owners of a home in the Gilbert-Emory neighborhood in west Dallas, which is quickly gentrifying, did see their school property taxes drop to zero last year. Their home’s market value more than tripled between 2018 and 2023, and their city and county taxes rose by double-digit percentages in that time. But their total tax bill was 22% lower at the end of that five-year period.
Still unclear is how much state lawmakers’ property tax cuts have benefited renters. About 20% of every rent dollar paid by Texas tenants In Travis County, the average tax bill property owners paid for the homes they live in was 7% lower in 2023 than in 2018 when accounting for inflation, according to figures provided by the Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector’s office.
Texas has some of the highest property tax bills in the country, owing to the state’s lack of an income tax and heavy reliance on property taxes to pay for government services like police, firefighters, sidewalks and, most prominently, public schools. Those limits have helped keep property tax collections from growing faster than they did before they were enacted, according to the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association. Texas taxpayers in 2021 would have shelled out $6 billion more in property taxes than they did that year if not for the tighter limits,. It’s likely that taxpayers would have paid even more because of rising property values in recent years, tax advocates and experts say.
That increase resulted in a substantial drop in property taxes. School district property tax levies on single-family homes fell by 17% between the 2022 and 2023 tax years, according to the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association.
Texas Politics Texas Policy Texas Government Politics Texas Legislature Taxes Austin Dallas Houston Lockhart Mcallen San Antonio Property Taxes
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
T-Squared: Texas Tribune and partners share Collier PrizeWe were recognized, with ProPublica and FRONTLINE, for our investigation into law enforcement’s handling of the 2022 elementary school shooting in Uvalde.
Read more »
Greta Díaz González Vázquez | The Texas TribuneGreta Díaz González Vázquez was a two-time Tribune fellow on the multimedia team in 2022 and 2023. She graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from The University of North Texas, where she also earned a certificate in narrative journalism.
Read more »
T-Squared: Tribune wins 5 top awards from Texas Managing EditorsOur newsroom was recognized for top reporter, investigative report, infographic, video and Freedom of Information Award.
Read more »
Annie Xia | The Texas TribuneAnnie Xia is a reporting fellow and a junior at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Annie previously interned at Heatmap News and currently works for the Medill Local News Initiative. Raised in both Austin and Dallas, she is excited to be back in Texas.
Read more »
Erin Cobb | The Texas TribuneErin Cobb is a 2024 events fellow. A junior at the University of Texas at Austin, she is studying journalism and nonprofits. Erin previously worked as a grants coordinator intern for Students Expanding American Literacy, an Austin-based literacy nonprofit.
Read more »
Get your tickets now for the 2024 Texas Tribune FestivalReserve your spot to connect with other Texans and big-name speakers on issues that affect our daily lives.
Read more »