A recent national study confirmed just how uncontrolled Texans’ property tax bills have become.
According to ATTOM Data Solutions, in 2018 Texas had the third highest effective property tax rate in the entire nation at 2.18 percent. The Lone Star State trailed only New Jersey and Illinois.
In addition to that, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area also posted average property tax increases of 8 percent, much higher than the national average of just 3 percent. DFW even beat out cities like Atlanta and San Francisco at 7 percent, Los Angeles at 5 percent, and Washington D.C. at 4 percent. Seattle came in much higher at 14 percent.
Data from the Tarrant, Dallas, and Denton Appraisal Districts also detailed just how much the average burden has increased over five years for homeowners in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area, with some homeowners facing increases in the average property tax bills of their local taxing entities from anywhere to 40 or, in one case, 141 percent! Data from Collin Appraisal District tracks increases for homeowners over three years, showing even their homeowners have been slapped with increases.
Unfortunately, the Texas Legislature currently isn’t doing much to cut taxes. Despite citizen outcry over their unbearable taxes, efforts at the Capitol to provide meaningful statewide property tax reform, control the growth of property taxes, and cut homeowners’ tax bills have apparently stalled. And with only about a month left in the legislative session, time is running out for lawmakers in Austin to deliver the relief taxpayers need.
