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I just learned about this today. Debra Medina (yes, the former candidate for governor) is part of an effort to eliminate property taxes in the State of Texas.

http://wetexans.com/bold-plan-free-texas/

I, for one, love the idea of not having to pay perpetual rent to the government for property I supposedly own.

And who will pay the balance, more sales taxes?

Beiruty wrote:And who will pay the balance, more sales taxes?

Maybe, but that is better than property tax. You can control how much sales tax you pay by adjusting how much stuff you buy. Property tax is paid for you just owning the land and sitting there.

Another effect of property tax is to break up family ownership of farms and ranches when the owner dies. Many times the people inheriting the land will have to sell all or part of it to pay taxes.

Kythas wrote:I just learned about this today. Debra Medina (yes, the former candidate for governor) is part of an effort to eliminate property taxes in the State of Texas.

http://wetexans.com/bold-plan-free-texas/

I, for one, love the idea of not having to pay perpetual rent to the government for property I supposedly own.

Yep. I would gladly pay higher sales taxes to counteract the revenue losses....and maybe figuring out how to do things on a smaller budget would be good for our local govts anyway.


Never forget that a property tax is the first point of 10 that Marx advocated for achieving the end of the capitalist system. I wonder why he put it at number 1?

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.


If the govt can kick me off of it for not paying them a yearly tax (or rent), then I don't own the land at all. I'm merely renting it from the State.

I hate the very idea of that.

WildBill wrote:
Another effect of property tax is to break up family ownership of farms and ranches when the owner dies. Many times the people inheriting the land will have to sell all or part of it to pay taxes.

I believe it's the Inheritance Tax (Death Tax) that does that.

imo you will wind up paying a state tax and as well as more sales tax

G26ster wrote:

WildBill wrote:
Another effect of property tax is to break up family ownership of farms and ranches when the owner dies. Many times the people inheriting the land will have to sell all or part of it to pay taxes.

I believe it's the Inheritance Tax (Death Tax) that does that.

Maybe both, depending on the value of the estate? I am not sure how property tax works in Texas, but in other states the heirs have to pay the property taxes at the rate based on the market value when they inherit the property.

My parents bought their house for $10,000 and paid property tax based on that value. When my mother died the house was worth $650,000. That was below the one million for the death tax, so we didn't have to pay that, but we did have to pay property tax on a $650K house, rather than a 10K house.

Property taxes are paid for a full year in Texas. A change in ownership doesn't require paying for the same year twice.

sunny beach wrote:

WildBill wrote:My parents bought their house for $10,000 and paid property tax based on that value. When my mother died the house was worth $650,000. That was below the one million for the death tax, so we didn't have to pay that, but we did have to pay property tax on a $650K house, rather than a 10K house.

Property taxes are paid for a full year in Texas. A change in ownership doesn't require paying for the same year twice.

But a change in ownership requires the new owner to pay higher taxes the next year based on the new sales price, correct? That is my point.

best thing you can do if you have elderly parents is switch the title of their property to a...."lady bird title" (I think that's what it's called) basically they retain control of the property but whichever of the 'inheritors" listed, become the "owners" .... now the drawback, if the parents are getting a discount on the taxes, which my in-laws were, they don't anymore, beause they aren't the "owners" anymore, the "owners" are younger so the property isn't elegible for the discount...we finally have gotten him past that, I think he now pays what he always paid and we split the rest with my husbands sister.

My Mom passed away (at age 82) 3 years ago and owned a home. It took us 18 months to sell the property for 25% less than she paid for it 5 years earlier. The moment she died, her property tax exemption also died. We had to start paying property tax based on the purchase price. Even with the bath we took on the sale, the taxing authority would not adjust the taxable value of the home.

G26ster wrote:

WildBill wrote:
Another effect of property tax is to break up family ownership of farms and ranches when the owner dies. Many times the people inheriting the land will have to sell all or part of it to pay taxes.

I believe it's the Inheritance Tax (Death Tax) that does that.

Need to make a distinction between ag land and commercial/residential. Farms and ranches should get ag use exemption that lowers property taxes a bunch. That leaves the inheritance/estate taxes as being the remaining major problem, as posted above.

But as others have posted, property taxes come into play as an additional issue with generational transfer of home and business properties.

cheezit wrote:imo you will wind up paying a state tax and as well as more sales tax

that's what they would do it property taxes go away... I rather pay property tax than a state income tax!

WildBill wrote:

G26ster wrote:

WildBill wrote:
Another effect of property tax is to break up family ownership of farms and ranches when the owner dies. Many times the people inheriting the land will have to sell all or part of it to pay taxes.

I believe it's the Inheritance Tax (Death Tax) that does that.

Maybe both, depending on the value of the estate? I am not sure how property tax works in Texas, but in other states the heirs have to pay the property taxes at the rate based on the market value when they inherit the property.

My parents bought their house for $10,000 and paid property tax based on that value. When my mother died the house was worth $650,000. That was below the one million for the death tax, so we didn't have to pay that, but we did have to pay property tax on a $650K house, rather than a 10K house.

It's strange that your parents only paid property tax all those years on the price they paid for the house. I pay property tax on the appraised value, which has always gone up each year (except for the last few years). I would seem to me, if the house was in Texas like mine, they would have had to pay tax on the appraised value each year which should have progressively risen over the years from 10k to 650k. I'd love to only pay tax on what I paid for my house, and not it's appraised value.

When we had to go house hunting, we passed on several homes. We had a substantial amount for a down payment from our insurance settlement (lost our previous home to Ike). But we passed on several locations due to the fact that the property taxes (+ MUD taxes some had) would have been more (if spread out over a year on a per month basis) than our mortgage payment. In some cases, significantly more. So I wouldn't mind seeing them eliminated. But what concerns me more is, what will be the 'replacement' tax revenue stream. No way government will do the same with less money.