Do Commerical property owners pay far less tax rates than residental home owners, I am leaning toward yes? (Muleshoe: apartment complex, rentals)

[orbius]

The crookedness doesnt end there. The ag exemptions are ludicrous. People with million dollar houses regularily pay no property tax or get money back because they run a few cows on their land. This isnt just hearsay I know it for a fact this is happening and widespread. A guy I knew had a successful business that made 200k a year net, had a ranch out in the country worth about a million dollars, and had about 20 cows on that land. Even despite his profitable business he was getting checks every year back from the government. (you and me)
As usual the middle class is getting screwed in all this. As they are taxed to death on their 300k mcmansions.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Well what matters at the end of the day is how much tax you have to pay in fact. And I can tell you that people even in modest homes in NJ are paying a helluva lot more than in TX. So maybe it's to do partly with the appraised value for tax purposes. I don't know. I just know that Texans aren't paying anywhere near as much as in some other states.

The rate actually floats here. If property values go up too fast, the rate actually drops. If property values drop dramatically then the rate goes up.

Agree that the actual dollars paid for property tax for an equivalently spec'd home are a lot lower because prices are lower. i.e. dollars tax/sq ft.

[doctorjef]

Well, I've not done an MLS search to see what houses are selling for in NJ, but I can tell you that from my MLS searches in recent months in Austin, Lubbock (curiosity), San Angelo (curiosity again), and Wilmington Delaware I was surprised to see that prices were pretty equivalent. I was surprised to see that by and large property prices were surprisingly high in Lubbock -- didn't really seem better than Austin or Wilmington DE. San Angelo seemed to have an awful lack of decent housing stock but what I could find listed that I could live in (in some bizarre dream scenario) would be similarly priced to the other areas. So I'm guessing that it's much the same in NJ with its $7K tax bills on one bedroom condos and $20K on mediocre $250-300K houses. Meanwhile, my property tax bill in the most expensive of DE's three counties last year was $2,000 on my $500K house, plus I don't pay any sales tax here and quite low state income tax that is eligible for a partial deduction on federal income tax. See -- Texas isn't always the bestest place in the whole freakin' creation, after all!

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Well, I've not done an MLS search to see what houses are selling for in NJ, but I can tell you that from my MLS searches in recent months in Austin, Lubbock (curiosity), San Angelo (curiosity again), and Wilmington Delaware I was surprised to see that prices were pretty equivalent. I was surprised to see that by and large property prices were surprisingly high in Lubbock -- didn't really seem better than Austin or Wilmington DE. San Angelo seemed to have an awful lack of decent housing stock but what I could find listed that I could live in (in some bizarre dream scenario) would be similarly priced to the other areas. So I'm guessing that it's much the same in NJ with its $7K tax bills on one bedroom condos and $20K on mediocre $250-300K houses. Meanwhile, my property tax bill in the most expensive of DE's three counties last year was $2,000 on my $500K house, plus I don't pay any sales tax here and quite low state income tax that is eligible for a partial deduction on federal income tax. See -- Texas isn't always the bestest place in the whole freakin' creation, after all!

With regards to home prices:
Are you looking at $/sq ft? In looking at trulia, the average price/sq ft in wilmington is 149/sq ft. In austin it is running right around 86 for the last 3 months.

Wilmington average and median listing prices - Trulia.com
austin average and median listing prices - Trulia.com


Also, property taxes are only one part of the tax story:
From the tax foundation I can see is that texas is 42 it total local and state tax burden and DE is 24th. Im not sure where they are getting you, but they are.

[High_Plains_Retired]

The Texas Constitution sets out five rules for the property taxation one being:

Taxation must be equal and uniform - All property, whether residential or commercial, must be taxed equally and uniformly. No single property or type of properties should pay more than its fair share of taxes.

However, as a commercial and residential Texas property owner, I can attest to the fact that this says nothing about the exemptions available to residential and agricultural properties that is not available to commercial property owners. Also, it says nothing about whether or not your particular locality is pro-commerce or anti-commerce which can lead to unfair appraisal values.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Austin97

Here are some examples:
Listing Price: $2,500,000
Annual Taxes: $12,453
Tax Year: 2009

Listing Price: $4,500,000
Annual Taxes: $20,000
Association Fee: $260

Listing Price: $1,500,000
Annual Taxes: $16,250

Listing Price: $1,250,000
Annual Taxes: $13,842


I would say most if not all of the lakefront properties are under assessed.

Your post really doesn't prove anything. First of all listing price doesn't mean sales price. I know many waterfront owners have an inflated view of how much their homes are worth.

How long have these homes been for sale? Where are these homes? Lake Travis? North shore or south shore? Could the owners be over 65 and have benefited from capped property taxes? Many in Lakeway fall in that category.

I am not saying some lakefront is underassessed. But who are you to say how much these properties are worth today?

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Austin97

The rate actually floats here. If property values go up too fast, the rate actually drops. If property values drop dramatically then the rate goes up.

Agree that the actual dollars paid for property tax for an equivalently spec'd home are a lot lower because prices are lower. i.e. dollars tax/sq ft.

I don't think I'd say tax rates "float." The may change from year to year - based on both the assessed values and of course the revenue needed by the taxing entity. In my 20+ years here they haven't changed that much. A school bond election may inch the rates up - or legislative changes like the partial relief of Robin Hood recently may drop the rates.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Well what matters at the end of the day is how much tax you have to pay in fact. And I can tell you that people even in modest homes in NJ are paying a helluva lot more than in TX. So maybe it's to do partly with the appraised value for tax purposes. I don't know. I just know that Texans aren't paying anywhere near as much as in some other states.

I agree. I really don't understand the fixation with the rates unless they want to consider the income tax rates - ZERO.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

Your post really doesn't prove anything. First of all listing price doesn't mean sales price. I know many waterfront owners have an inflated view of how much their homes are worth.

How long have these homes been for sale? Where are these homes? Lake Travis? North shore or south shore? Could the owners be over 65 and have benefited from capped property taxes? Many in Lakeway fall in that category.

I am not saying some lakefront is underassessed. But who are you to say how much these properties are worth today?

First, the sales prices would have to be between 1/5 and 1/10 of the list price. Second these are all listed by realtors who generally do comps. Third there are about 20+ of these, all listed by realtors. Im sure that some are over inflated, but certainly not all.


These are all south shore of lake travis.

[hoffdano]

I DO agree with you that the TCAD is not consistent at all. How can they be so off with some properties?