Why your property taxes are so high

DallasBlog.com | Tom Pauken:

“Patrick Smith has written the most extensive analysis I have seen of how the Comptroller’s office under Carole Strayhorn has been pressuring local appraisal districts to raise property valuations all across the state, resulting in what Smith calls ‘excessive property valuations’.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

The Dallas Central Appraisal District says appraisals increased 6%, on average, in Dallas County this year. Compare that with what's happening to sales prices. Appraisals are going up because property values are going up. There's a real estate bubble in this country. Texas is not entirely exempt.

Yes, the appraisal system is broken, but that's mostly because Texans worked themselves into a corner with a property tax, while at the same time insisting that sales data is private and not available to help accurately appraise property values. The system should be fixed, but don't expect appraisals to drop much, on average, if at all, as long as the real estate bubble persists.

Texans end up with a property tax because they don't want an income tax. Then they criticize their property tax because it's a tax on wealth, not income. So, they cut their property tax and replace it with a business tax based on revenue, not income because, again, Texans don't want an income tax. Then, they are outraged that businesses that don't have net income might be taxed anyway based solely on revenue. It's insane alright. It's insane to demand a crazy system and then complain when you end up with a crazy system.