Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has called on the Texas Senate to study property tax relief and elimination. Approximately half of the property tax bill is the local school district’s “maintenance and operation” levy. Other levies include those for the city, hospital district, and community college.
Yesterday, we asked readers their thoughts on property taxes.
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Here is a sampling of the comments we received from our readers after they voted in the survey.
“As it stands today, you can’t own your house in Texas, you are only allowed to rent it from the government.” – Sharon Sapp
“Eliminating all property taxes in Texas can easily be done by simply expanding the base of the sales tax to include services!” – Earl Carter
“Eliminate property taxes! Drastically cut government! There is your answer.” – Nancy Wood
“Why am I forced to rent a house from the state that I paid for years ago?” – Jonathan Smythe
“I voted to reduce property taxes. The “eliminate” crowd does not explain in enough detail precisely how tax revenue will be raised. A value-added tax (VAT) would end up being just like taxes are levied now (and the same as it works in the U.K.)—an ever-rising rate. The better way to cut the tax burden is to control spending. Government is not a responsible steward of our money. We should be holding our public official’s feet to the fire about SPENDING.” – Roxann Bilger
“Property taxes and appraisals are out of control. Even after your house is paid for, you are still only renting it from the state. It’s especially onerous for retirees. We are being taxed out of our homes.” – Annye King
“While I’d love to say ‘Eliminate all…,’ I don’t want the state paying for (socializing) police, fire, and trash, on which my town does a really good job. With Robin Hood, the state already pays for it so unless the legislature will take action to eliminate recapture, it would be more honest for the state to just pay school districts directly from sales tax revenue. Currently, most residents believe their tax dollars fund their schools leading to a false sense of control.” – Spencer Siino
“With a property tax, we never own our own homes/property.” – Mary Morgan
“All I know is that there are too many taxes, and some of them are out of sight and need to be reduced or destroyed.” – Eleanor Edmondson
“There are two sides to that coin, taxes on one side, spending on the other. To address one w/o also addressing the other is futile.” – Jack Boteler
“I’m buying my home, which is burden enough in the Biden economy. Why should I be burdened with property taxes when the education system is failing children? Greedy school superintendents are getting richer and fatter on our tax dollars. Many of us no longer have children in school, so I resent paying for a failing system.” – Marla Choate
“Any property tax is wholly immoral. To be required under penalty of law to pay a tax for which one has no control is horribly egregious! It is more stifling than most understand because business inventory is considered property and, therefore, taxed, forcing prices up. Property taxes MUST be eliminated.” – Roger Taylor
“Eliminate all property taxes. I shouldn’t have to pay rent on a house I own. School districts are notoriously poor custodians of managing their money. If parents want the latest and greatest athletic facilities, then they should pay for them. Not those of us who don’t care about high school sports and are on a fixed income.” – Marta Hollowell
“I would like to see the constitutional elimination of all property taxes on Texas homesteads.” – John Detmar
“The current system punishes those who try to own their home and retire in it by requiring them to pay for many services to others they do not use or benefit from leaving home ownership in retirement only possible for the wealthy.” – Dawn Richardson
“Property taxes are out of control. Tarrant County increased my appraised value by 55% in one year!” – Chris Danford
“Do I own this property, or am I renting it from the state? YES eliminate property taxes!” – Cindy Armstrong
“Property taxes probably should be reduced to the greatest degree possible, if not outright eliminated. But let’s not kid ourselves: high property taxes are a symptom of the fact that government, at all levels, spend too much. Unless and until the political will exists to cut spending, some form of taxation and/or inflation is inevitable.” – Adam Cahn
“Taxation in theft.” – Chris Breaux
“The property tax makes the owner a surf to the State. It means that the property is not really yours. The State can and will take your property from you if you fail to pay the taxes imposed upon the property. This is just wrong and should be ended.” – Randall Woodman
