Good news: Home values are up. Bad news: So are property taxes

The Tarrant Appraisal District is mailing out 2016 property value notices, and TAD officials say residential values are up sharply because of a “hot real estate market.”

Average home values are up 14 percent across the country, but state law limits increases in valuation for tax purposes to 10 percent. Thousands of homeowners and business property owners file protests every year, seeking to have their tax appraisals lowered.

What’s your opinion of the Texas property tax system? Does the appeal process work? How hard is it to get your appraisal lowered? Should the Legislature make changes?

Property values may go up, but that doesn’t mean that property rates can’t go down.

Responsible members of governing entities need to do the right thing and make appropriate adjustments to property rates.

It’s good that state law has a 10 percent limit on property value increases. But that doesn’t mean that property rates can’t be lowered to offset the increases.

When board members don’t do the right thing, there’s always election time to get rid of them and replace them with others who are more responsible to citizens’ needs.

My suggestion would be to hop in your car and drive over to the Tarrant Appraisal District’s easily located building just off of Loop 820.

Before you go, do a little homework and get comps from as many nearby homes as you believe will support your position.

Then, ask TAD to show you the exact data used to determine your home’s worth. They will provide you with the addresses, square footage, dates of sale and cost per square foot.

Take that data and compare it with your research and you will be able to negotiate with them right then and there. Or, walk about 30 feet within the same building and you can file a protest.

Just stay calm, use your due diligence and you’ll find the process quite easy. And remember, we have no state income tax.

Concerning the March 31 front-page story involving tax appraisals and the release of information, TAD’s comment that it will do whatever the law allows is not good enough.

Such a comment is a classic example of hiding behind the law to the detriment of the people TAD is in place to serve.

TAD needs to let its tax-data-collecting vendors know their data must be made available to county residents or TAD will cancel the contracts and find other vendors less secretive.

Most homeowners would admit that an increase in your home’s appraised value is a good thing, except when that translates into a higher tax bill.

I think the Texas property tax system is a fair and equitable system. Those who think the system is unfair because renters don’t pay property taxes don’t realize that apartment owners pass on their tax liability to renters. Hence, renters pay their fair share.

The taxes we pay are collected to cover the expenses and services provided by city and county governments. I think that if increased property values result in more tax revenue than what is needed to cover those expenses and services, the tax rate should be automatically reviewed and reduced accordingly (i.e., balanced budget).

City and county governments should never be allowed to collect more than what is needed.

Change the property valuation formula.

Keep the property value high but change the formula to keep the tax amount lower.

Texas is a state dependent on property taxes, and, as such, two kinds of property tax are used.

TAD has us thinking about residential values, but we should also focus on commercial property values, which are secretive and undervalued, and sale prices are often concealed.

That undervalue shifts the tax burden onto homeowners. In addition, tax abatements often give an extra break.

We need more transparency on how appraisal districts arrive at their values. For equity to exist, access to these values should be more public.

The property tax system is broken and the burden of an additional $100 a month is made even more egregious by the tax bill emblazoned in three different places with, “In God We Trust.”

How does [Tax Assesssor-Collector] Ron Wright get away with this?

What does it cost the tax payers for him to pursue his personal agenda?

Of 40-something similar homes I reviewed last year, approximately half had no increase. The other half had 10 percent increases (maximum allowed by law without improvements).

The three people, including me, who pulled a permit for remodeling had approximately 30 percent increases.

I went to the Appraisal Review Board and received very little relief, and the TAD appraiser acted like I deserved it.

I went to arbitration, with extra costs of course, and received a reasonable decrease.

My 2016 TAD property value notice showed an increase in market valuation of 70 percent.

My saving grace is that the taxable value can only increase by 10 percent each year, which means I will pay an extra $230.

The current system places too much burden on homeowners.

Near my home , there is acreage with a market value of $852,000, but an appraised value of $4,700.

With a couple of cows, and a jackass for good measure, it gets an agricultural exemption. The tax bill is $100.

The Texas Legislature needs to address this.

Without fair and equitable property taxes, city services are underfunded and public schools and county hospitals are starved of operating funds.

Support lags for teachers, firefighters and police.

In Texas, although real estate listing services make it easy to compare home values, there’s no requirement for accrately reporting either residential or commercial property values.

By collecting estimated taxes on commercial property, TAD shifts the tax burden to homeowners, who pay more than their fair share.

TAD couldn’t get my over-65 exemptions correct due to computer glitches.

Now I get an estimated tax bill raising my taxable value of my house by $10,000!

I guess they need to do this to make up for the tiny savings I get for becoming a senior.

Quit giving huge abatements to business and putting taxes on homeowners. We are the ones who live and spend money here.

I hope someone takes this issue to court.

Someone needs to protect homeowners from our appraisal district.

What’s to worry about? Our Legislature gave us a property tax break, remember?

I saved $122 over the previous year.

I am sure that will more than cover this increase. Not.

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 6:46 PM with the headline "Good news: Home values are up. Bad news: So are property taxes."