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Calling All Homeowners & Taxpayers: Must-Read

Posted on March 12th, 2008 9:21am by Candy Evans
Filed under Uncategorized

I have been wondering about this: will all the foreclosures actually help lower our taxes? Seems the answer is no — they don’t count in the valuation process. Property improvements, however, do. The other question I have: how much more is the city and county raking in from the high rise developments downtown? We cannot sustain these high property taxes, among the highest in the nation… contact me if you’d like to start dumping tea in the Trinity!

7 Comments to “Calling All Homeowners & Taxpayers: Must-Read”

Cooper @ March 12th, 2008 at 1:41 pm

Sounds like a one-sided system that’s stacked in the county’s favor — we won’t let bad things affect valuations, but we will let the good?!

I’ve got my tea at the ready. Just say when!
Bob @ March 12th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

Texas actually has one of the lowest total tax burdens in the country, but because the Legislature, in its infinite wisdom, has chosen not to collect any part of its tax revenue from an income tax (unlike most other states), the cities, the counties, the schools, and the state all are forced into relying on the sales tax and the property tax. If you need to raise a certain level of revenue to pay for the services that citizens demand (education, highways, incarceration, health care), and you can’t get it from one source (income tax), you get it from the other sources (property and sales tax).
Tax-whiz @ March 12th, 2008 at 2:49 pm

Bob has it right on… if you don’t collect income tax, something has to give, and in Texas, its property taxes. Compared to MN where state income tax rates are high and property taxes are as high as TX, I don’t feel so bad for us.
Drew @ March 12th, 2008 at 2:58 pm

Candy, trust me, I would gladly move back to Texas to avoid all the thievery and corruption persistent in Cook County Illinois and the City of Chicago. Since you’re blogging re: real estate, how about a 7.5% tax levied on the buyer of any real property purchased in the City of Chicago, now moving to 10% to pay for a transit bailout. And yes, they are masquerading this as a “tax”. This is in addition to the previously 6% now 8% “usage tax” I pay for the lease on my LandRover. Yeah, I know, no crying if I can afford to drive a LandRover, but it’s the principle of it, right?

Trust me, Texas was a J-O-Y when it came to taxes.

Oh, I forgot how Cook County Illinois will now have THE highest sales tax in the nation at 10.25% come November. I’ll buy all my big ticket items in the suburbs to avoid that one.
Lydia Player @ March 12th, 2008 at 4:12 pm

I’m with you Candy. There are plenty of other states out there with no income tax and their property taxes are not skyrocketing (Maine for example). And we’ve got the oil & gas industry!
Virginia Cook will gladly tell you about how the Tx Assoc. of Realtors is lobbying to keep the state from adding an additional ‘transaction’ tax onto the sale of homes in Texas.
Candy Evans @ March 12th, 2008 at 9:56 pm

Drew, Chicago is my hometown and I was actually thinking of buying a condo up there to stay in just to enjoy the city! What was I smoking? Thanks for the info. You have made me look at this from a different perspective, but I still think we need to keep vigilance on these governments. As for the Rover, I am happy you have a great car — you enjoy every inch of it b/c after all, you work for it!
Drew @ March 13th, 2008 at 8:31 am

Candy, I’ve got a beautiful lakefront 2BR condo in a new building overlooking Lakeshore Drive in the up and coming South Loop.

I’ll make you a deal!