[mamelukesabre]

Property is worth more in the east. These numbers are meaningless. Tax rate is what matters.

[Swanks]

Property is worth more in the east. These numbers are meaningless. Tax rate is what matters.

They are not meaningless. If a person is retired, and in their house for years, they are still fixed income, even though the asset increased in value. They can't sell part of the house, to keep up with what is now $15,000 tax hit which was $7,000 just six years ago. Nor should they be forced to move away, simply because the legislators are pigs, and revenues are never enough.

[Freedom4US]

Not everyone intends on selling, though the turnover is higher than I thought. Those on fixed incomes, retired folks will just have to find another place to live, huh?

[Muleteam1]

>>Tax rate is what matters.<<

I agree. A median yearly property tax bill is meaningless unless one knows the rate. I believe a good average for Texas is about 3% of the appraised value but it seems to vary greatly by county.

[businessprofessor]

The combination of the assessed value and the rate determine the tax. Ultimately, the tax is the only thing that matters. In most places, the tax rate is frozen so your taxes track the assessed value. In areas of increasing property values, frozen tax rates lead to very high property taxes and bloated government.

Colorado has a taxpayer bill of rights. Taxes can only increase with population growth and inflation. Property tax rates have declined in Colorado as property values have increased so that the total amount of tax revenue does not exceed the constitutional limit. The dims are unhappy about the amount of property taxes so they passed a law that freezes property tax rates. Because the total amount of taxes will increase faster than the TABOR limit, many believe that the law is unconstitutional. However, we have a rat supreme court so I am skeptical that the law will be invalidated even though it clearly contradicts TABOR.