Property Tax

[johnrex62]

It is because you are living in a premium area with high interest and desirability. of course you will pay for the luxury and convenience! Since you are also obviously sheltered from the remainder of the world and have not experienced truly high taxes yet, you will surely perceive a difference between what a utopia such as Austin must charge compared to such clearly less desirable areas such as Hays, Bastrop or even Williamson counties.

you want the best you must pay for it. Just be very glad that people in New York, Conneticut and California have not realized what crap-holes they live in compared to what you have. Well, maybe a bunch in California have noticed......they put up another tax proposition every few years hoping to curb their runaway taxes.....

Do a little research and you will find that even discounting income taxes in other states, the property tax is not much if any higher than in most other areas of the country.

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by Rynldsbr

So much whining and crying over taxes. Try living in a truly high tax burdened state or area - most of you have no clue. Having moved here from WI and dealing with one of the highest tax burdens in the nation year after year, Texas is a dream when it comes to taxation. Check this out if you doubt. Overall Texas is middle of the road on taxes and total tax burden year after year.
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Your site says CA is 17% BELOW average..... that makes me highly suspect of this data. Or I'm reading the chart incorrectly.

[Spacepup]

Originally Posted by Rynldsbr

So much whining and crying over taxes. Try living in a truly high tax burdened state or area - most of you have no clue. Having moved here from WI and dealing with one of the highest tax burdens in the nation year after year, Texas is a dream when it comes to taxation. Check this out if you doubt. Overall Texas is middle of the road on taxes and total tax burden year after year.

Here is a novel idea: If your taxes are too high, move to a smaller home or a community with lower taxes. In most cases there will be a direct correlation between the taxes and the income levels/cost of living overall. If you want to live where there are more services and amenities, taxes will be higher.

I think what really differentiates Ausitn (and Texas) from a lot of higher-tax jurisdictions is the utter lack of extra services you get for your buck here so you feel a bit ripped off.

In the northeast every winter you get a nice reminder of where your tax money is going when you see or hear the snowplow go by and during the summer you can walk on a sidewalk past the road crews repaving on your way to relaxing in the freshly mowed, irrigated, and generally well tended neighborhood park. Compare that to Austin where you dodge road patches as you drive (because there is no sidewalk) to the the nearest park a few miles away where you've got the choice of a rusted out table or dead grass which somehow has managed to grow two feet tall since it was mowed two months ago.

[Trainwreck20]

Compare that to Austin where you dodge road patches as you drive (because there is no sidewalk) to the the nearest park a few miles away where you've got the choice of a rusted out table or dead grass which somehow has managed to grow two feet tall since it was mowed two months ago.

Huh, I must be going to the wrong places....I can walk to a small 'toddler' style park (on sidewalks, no less!). It is geared toward the <5 y/o crowd, though, with a nicely maintained gazebo and playscape, so I now usually end up biking (on nice bike lanes) to either Dick Nichols park - free public pool, basketball courts, volleyball courts, a huge covered area, beautiful oak trees, multiple playscapes, a splash area, and a hiking trail - or to Metropolitan park, with a creek, multiple soccer fields, basketball courts, disc golf, beautiful oaks, a real old-fashioned jungle gym, a baseball field, and hiking trails. None of the three parks has ever lacked for grass or tree care, at least that I have ever seen. A couple of the tables at CC have been dented, but nothing that makes them unusable at all.