dallas property taxes (Plano, Rowlett, Allen: sales, insurance, house prices)

[jxn3000]

considering a move to dallas, and have heard that texas has no state income tax and that dallas has no grocery sales tax. just wondering if the property taxes are substantially higher to compensate for this?

[WillysB]

In Texas, there is no income tax and groceries are not taxed. Some PRE-pared foods are taxed.

There is a sales tax for state/county/local governments. Some organizations get a tax exemption from state sales tax. Texas has a tax free weekend prior to the September 'back to school' crunch so families can buy those back to school necessities without paying any state tax.

Property taxes may run towards 3% (+/-) and assessed annually by your local county.

Other experiences may vary.

[Dallas native]

RE taxes are high in Texas compared to many other places. The tax rate in the city of Dallas is about $2.50 per $100 of assessed value. With the Texas homestead exemption, you get an approximate 20% reduction. The stipulations for that exemption are that you occupy the home as your primary residence and you have to own it on January 1st of any given year for it to activate. So, if you bought a primary residence this year, the exemption would kick in for 2010. There are other exemptions for disability and for people over 65. Consult DCAD.org for a more extensive explanation. http://www.dallascad.org/forms/09estrat.pdf

[bookworm2768]

In my opinion other charges quite adequately make up for any lack of state taxes. Property taxes are ridiculously high in many of the towns. The value of your vehicle is taxed when you move down here. You need annual vehicle inspections which cost around $40. Water is expensive. Electricity is expensive, you probably will need pest control (cockroaches, ants, fire ants, termites), etc etc etc.
So if you are thinking of moving down and think that the lack of state taxes will be a big plus to your budget, do take into account the many little minuses as well.

[LQQKOUT]

Also, think about that home purchase before you buy it......what is nice big home in a really nice area.....you pay the "REALLY nice high property taxes for. Like I have a 3000 sq ft two story home 2001 built, in a nice area....(no not like HP, or West Plano) anyways......I pay over $5000.00 in property taxes. My parents live down the street in a previously owned home (bulit in 1989) about 2700 sqft single story with no exemptions yet (not retired) and they pay $3400.00.


So that nice home around $250-$300K you can afford "Remember" the property taxes before you sign. Oh and the home insurance.

Texas has the HIGHEST property taxes in the nation.

But, I still love Texas!

[ETex2]

Originally Posted by Proud Rowlett Owner

Also, think about that home purchase before you buy it......what is nice big home in a really nice area.....you pay the "REALLY nice high property taxes for. Like I have a 3000 sq ft two story home 2001 built, in a nice area....(no not like HP, or West Plano) anyways......I pay over $5000.00 in property taxes. My parents live down the street in a previously owned home (bulit in 1989) about 2700 sqft single story with no exemptions yet (not retired) and they pay $3400.00.


So that nice home around $250-$300K you can afford "Remember" the property taxes before you sign. Oh and the home insurance.

Texas has the HIGHEST property taxes in the nation.

But, I still love Texas!

Actually we are the 2nd highest with Wisconsin being the highest as I recall. I looked it up the other day. But you have to look at the "big" picture here. Texas is way down on the list when it comes to overall taxes spent per capita and per earned dollar, due to the lack of state income taxes, no taxes on groceries, etc..

[LQQKOUT]

The OP asked about property taxes, so I answered. I agree with the "BIG" picture. ")

[ETex2]

I was talking about property taxes as well.

There are a number of ways you can look at this - per capita, per average sales price, per average home value, etc.. Texas consistently ranks high on property taxes but there are many areas of New York and New Jersey that are much higher on a per capita basis and based on income.

[Pete53FR]

There will be a lot of pressure on tax districts this year cause sales taxes are way down, property values will be down so look for higher fees. Water is costing over 100 a month includes sanitation and sewer charges and a water runoff fee.

The place you pick your home matters as the City of Dallas offers homestead but say Allen Texas offers little help for a homeowner. Be sure and research cause just the place you buy can mean 100's more or less for same value.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by ETex2

I was talking about property taxes as well.

There are a number of ways you can look at this - per capita, per average sales price, per average home value, etc.. Texas consistently ranks high on property taxes but there are many areas of New York and New Jersey that are much higher on a per capita basis and based on income.

That is a very astute observation, ETex2.

If you look at the tax rate based on the housing prices, the taxes seem high. This is actually an illusion. In reality, it's not the taxes that are high, it's the house prices that are low.

The usual way we look at taxes is as a percentage of your income. That's how we judge the Federal income tax, and state income taxes, if you're unlucky enough to pay one.

So let's look at property taxes as a percentage of your income. We'll look at counties, get a number for the median income, and then get the median amount paid to the local governments in the county from property taxes. If you're not up on your maths, the median is the halfway point. Exactly half the property taxes are less than the median, exactly half are more than the median. We don't consider averages, because the high dollar taxpayers bias and contaminate the figures.

For Dallas county, the median property tax is $2,713, and it is 4.3% of the annual income.

For the Bay Area, these are the counties:

Alameda county gets $3,736, which is 4.0% of the taxpayers' income
Contra Costa county gets $3,833, or 4.1%
Santa Clara county gets $4,355, or 4.0%
San Francisco county gets $4,167, or 4.1%

For New Jersey,

Camden county $5,311, 7.1%
Burlington county $5,111, 6.0%
Essex county $7,535, 8.1%
Passaic county $6,928, 8.5%

You can see that Dallas property taxes are in the ballpark with a similarly sized metro (SF Bay Area), and much lower than the New Jersey counties.