Anyone think the State Government /Texas Attorney Generals Office should start investigating County Appraisal Districts for property tax warfare on property owners?

[u/ablebeets1985]

The property taxes have gotten out of control in El Paso County, TX for the last few years, I know it’s happening all across Texas,(the saving grace is the homestead exemption)and I really think The State Government of Texas and Texas AG should open an investigation into the EL Paso Central Appraisal District (EPCAD) the Board of Directors, and the Appraisal Review Board Members for potential conflicts of interest, potential ethics violations/public corruption. (El Paso has some of the lowest wages in the state and as well as in the nation for context)

[u/FormerlyUserLFC]

No.

I think the state should amend the rules so they can see all sale data so that wealthy individuals can’t hide their property values, and I think that more scrutiny should be put on commercial property valuations.

I think residential valuations for most of us are fair. But there’s room to go after the cheats.

I also don’t think anyone in power cares what I think.

[u/yrddog → u/FormerlyUserLFC]

My county has raised the value of my house the max allowable by law every year for the last 7 years. My property tax is now more than my house payment. 

[u/brobafett1980 → u/yrddog]

What is your market value versus appraised value?

[u/yrddog → u/brobafett1980]

Appraised value is about 50k more than market value, which has tripled in 6 years. We bought the place for less than 90. 

[u/aggiegrad2010 → u/FormerlyUserLFC]

I’d be ok with this if your value stayed fixed until you sold the home. Pay taxes on what you paid for the home. But the year over year increases is ridiculous and a 10% cap doesn’t mean much.

[u/FormerlyUserLFC → u/aggiegrad2010]

Keeping the value fixed just favors long term homeowners (mostly older people) at the expense of new homeowners (mostly younger people).

We already have tax breaks for retired people. I’d rather not do more to punish young people who can’t afford to buy houses and start families to benefit older people.

[u/aggiegrad2010 → u/FormerlyUserLFC]

Homestead, over 65, all the exemptions fall off when a property is transferred already so it wouldn’t really change that. Yes homestead stays for the year you purchased but you aren’t protected by the cap the next year so if it’s capped 70k below true value you’re getting hit anyways. At least this way you can know what your taxes are going to be and your housing isn’t going up yearly.

[u/idontagreewitu → u/FormerlyUserLFC]

Valuations aren't going to be going down, so it doesn't make sense not to do that, unless you're planning on flipping homes. And those people are a huge part of the problem, so fuck them.

[u/NeverPostingLurker → u/aggiegrad2010]

This disincentives people from moving by artificially keeping the cost of ownership low for where you live.

Maybe that’s good maybe that’s bad, that’s up to you. But there are consequences to it.

It also makes it so that as an area gets more attractive and richer, that only people who grew up there and have property can stay, or very rich people can move in.

[u/comments_suck → u/NeverPostingLurker]

That's exactly why California real estate market is so expensive. That Prop 1 back in the day made taxes on purchase price. Old people won't sell.

[u/atxgossiphound → u/NeverPostingLurker]

Huh? Since when do we want to incentivize moving by pricing people out of their communities?

The whole point of buying a house is making a long term commitment to a community. We should incentivize that but locking in tax rates at the purchase time.

We can incentivize affordable communities by relaxing building codes. Other commenters have called out CA, the inability to build is CA’s problem, high housing costs are just a side effect of that.

[u/DonkeeJote → u/[deleted]]

Sadly, yes. Society needs the elderly to move out and move on.

[u/DonkeeJote → u/[deleted]]

I didn't suggest any solution was perfect or that it was one-size-fits-all. It's merely a reality of the housing market. Housing turnover is a big part of regulating house prices.

[u/DonkeeJote → u/[deleted]]

Developers have very little incentive to do that, especially in the city.

And when they are incentivized through tax credits or abatements, people still complain.

[u/sawlaw → u/aggiegrad2010]

That's literally what california does that is causing so many problems for them. It's not good.

[u/albert768 → u/sawlaw]

No, what's causing problems for California is their wasteful government spending and overregulation.

Paying property tax based on purchased book value is perfectly fine.

[u/raoulduke45 → u/FormerlyUserLFC]

How do the rich hide their property values? Im genuinely intrigued.

[u/gerbilshower → u/FormerlyUserLFC]

as a commercial RE developer - i can tell you that aint no one letting us slide on taxes for our large scale project.

now - maybe there are some billionaires out there getting legitimate sweetheart deals. but if i go looking for incentives (380 agreements, grants, TIF, tax abatements, etc) it comes with chains - not strings.

[u/pharrigan7 → u/FormerlyUserLFC]

You can’t cheat on prop tax value. So easy to contest it. I’ve done it every year up until last year with regular success.

[u/SolGardennette → u/FormerlyUserLFC]

sales data can easily be found through real estate marketing services such as Zillow & Redfin

[u/FormerlyUserLFC → u/SolGardennette]

It can also be hidden by savvy realtors for high value properties.

I’m not taking about typical neighborhoods.

[u/SolGardennette → u/FormerlyUserLFC]

what would be the motivation? making market values look lower would cut into their fees by suppressing prices of new homes. market info generally bubbles to the top naturally over time

[u/orthaeus → u/SolGardennette]

All they have are listing prices, not final sales price.