Texas homeowners currently pay the sixth-highest property taxes in the nation.

Vance Ginn, chief economist for the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), noted that the State should use surplus tax revenue to provide property tax relief.

"Homeownership is the goal of so many who call Texas home," Ginn told the Lone Star Standard recently. "Unfortunately, inflation and a red-hot housing market aren’t the only obstacles making this task herculean – local property taxes are out of control. Under the current system, Texans are merely renting their homes and their lands from the government. And when governments don’t get “their” money, they can take your property and auction it off to the highest bidder."

Since 2002, property taxes in Texas have increased 181%, the Texans For Fiscal Responsibility website said.

The median home price in Texas during June was $349,000, which was the first drop in home prices in the state since December 2020, a recent Texas A&M University report said. Even with the drop, current home prices are significantly higher than they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But relief may be coming soon, as Ginn pointed out that Texas has a surplus of tax revenue.

"Texas Comptroller estimates $30 billion account balance by next legislative session," Texas Gov. Greg Abbot tweeted in June. "We must use a substantial portion of this money to cut property taxes in Texas."

A recent Texas statewide property tax survey showed that 71% of registered voters in the state would be upset if the current legislative session ends with nothing done to address property taxes. Additionally, 82% of registered voters think that addressing property taxes is an important issue in Texas.

The average 2022 property tax bill in Harris County is $3,040; recent data from tax-rates.org showed.