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Austin-based conservative think tank the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) recently published a report that reveals Texas' most populous counties have experienced increasing property taxes compared to the preferred growth rate during the last half-decade.
TPPF's James Quintero and Anthony Jones authored the analysis titled "Just the Facts: Property Taxes in Texas' Most Populous Cities, Counties, and School Districts 2nd Edition," which says ten counties—including Harris County—had property taxes that went beyond the preferred rate from 2016 to 2020.
The report shows the uniqueness of property taxes and indicates the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts labelled property taxes "the largest tax assessed in Texas." It also showed that three years ago, property taxes accounted for nearly 50% of all tax dollars collected in the state.
The report says there were 4,256 separate property taxing units in Texas in fiscal year 2019, with some that overlap.
"The laws and systems surrounding Texas' property tax are notoriously complicated, oftentimes requiring a taxpayer to seek help through consultants, accountants, advocates and attorneys," the document said.
The preferred rate of growth, which is the sum resulting from adding population growth and inflation, is outpaced by complex tax laws, the analysis said.
"It's not a stretch to say that property taxes are out of control in the Lone Star State," Quintero, a policy director at TPPF, said in a recent newsletter commentary on the subject. "As a result, local governments are getting rich while families are forced to make hard decisions."
Texas is among the top ten states in terms of highest property tax rates in the country, with a median payment of $4,065 per year, personal finance platform The Balance said.
Just last year, the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, determined that Texas registered the sixth-highest property tax rate (measured as property taxes paid as a percentage of owner-occupied housing value) in 2019.
Each one of Texas' ten most populous counties witnessed some level of population growth from 2016 to 2020, the TPPF analysis said. Harris, the most populous county, saw its property tax climb approximately 40% during that period, from $1.8 billion to $2.4 billion.
The Houston Chronicle reported that the average home and apartment values each increased by at least 20%. Harris County's chief appraiser, Roland Altinger, said in a statement that the value spikes are unprecedented.
"In my almost 40 years in the real estate business, I have never, ever seen such large increases in market values." Altinger told the Chronicle.