Increased property taxes have long been a concern among Texas taxpayers, especially in Houston, where the annual comprehensive financial report shows strong data supporting these increases. The policy director of Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) recently weighed in on what he believes city leaders need to do to ease the burden on Houston residents.
"The cost of city government weighs heavily on Houston taxpayers. City leaders would do well to lighten the load and adopt the no-new-revenue tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year — or even better, something much lower,” James Quintero told the Lone Star Standard.
From 2014 to 2023, Houston’s property tax levy increased from $1.07 billion to $1.53 billion, which equates to a 42.5% increase, according to Houston’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
Over the same 10-year period, Houston’s population grew much more slowly, increasing from 2,158,700 in 2013 to just 2,288,250 in 2022. That represents only a 6% increase. Inflation also rose 25.6%, but the combined growth of population and inflation (31.6%) is still much less than property tax levy growth (42.5%), the report said.
More information was reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
The data suggests property taxes are growing much faster than they should, Quintero said, adding that one reason why property taxes are higher than they should be is that the city council has not lowered its tax rate enough to offset rising valuations.
According to the report, from 2013 to 2022, Houston’s total tax rate has only decreased by 16.5%. Over the same period, total taxable value in the area has grown from $151.8 billion to $262.7 billion, which is a 73.1% increase.
"In tandem, this combination of mild rate decreases coupled with soaring valuations has put tremendous upward pressure on tax bills," Quintero said.
On July 10, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan reached a breakthrough agreement on property tax legislation. According to the Austin Journal, while these legislative efforts are praiseworthy, the deal reached still falls short of Gov. Abbott's ongoing goal to enact the "largest property tax cut in Texas history." Instead, it stands as the second-largest tax cut in the state's history.
