No Tax...

[Art]

Well no school tax, at least for me.

Up until the 1960s the bills of the State of Texas were paid primarily by the property tax. There was no sales tax and there never has been an income tax in this state. Texas has always been geezer friendly, property taxes are capped when an old boy or girl turns 65 and the rate is reduced.

For many years the state of Texas has promised property tax relief, they haven't delivered, well until now. The Texas state legislature this year raised the property tax exemption to $100,000.00 and capped the maximum amount a district can raise rates to 10%. The exemption also applies to second homes which means vacation homes and such.
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The net result of this is my school property tax (which is the vast majority of my property tax) due to the "geezer exemptions" and the new $100,000.00 across the board exemption is.....nothing. I will have to pay a whopping $15.00 to the county. Obviously not everyone is going to be in my position, even most old people if they own houses appraised at significantly more than mine but their rates will drop dramatically.

[Vern Humphrey]

Well no school tax, at least for me.

Up until the 1960s the bills of the State of Texas were paid primarily by the property tax. There was no sales tax and there never has been an income tax in this state. Texas has always been geezer friendly, property taxes are capped when an old boy or girl turns 65 and the rate is reduced.

For many years the state of Texas has promised property tax relief, they haven't delivered, well until now. The Texas state legislature this year raised the property tax exemption to $100,000.00 and capped the maximum amount a district can raise rates to 10%. The exemption also applies to second homes which means vacation homes and such.
.

The net result of this is my school property tax (which is the vast majority of my property tax) due to the "geezer exemptions" and the new $100,000.00 across the board exemption is.....nothing. I will have to pay a whopping $15.00 to the county. Obviously not everyone is going to be in my position, even most old people if they own houses appraised at significantly more than mine but their rates will drop dramatically.

When I wanted to make my brother cry, I would tell him now much property tax I pay on 160 acres and a 5-bedroom house. And Arkansas is phasing out the state income tax.

[Allen]

As mentioned before. I inherited a small portion of a 20 acre tract of land near Houston TX. It has 3 oil wells on it and is leased out to companies who pump the oil or natural gas. Once you lease something out like this you lose control of it forever because whoever leases it sells the lease to someone else when they want to move on. None of us who inherited the land ever saw or approved any lease contracts. In a way they are doing us a favor. We don't have to offer it to anyone, there's no gaps in lease time, etc. One of the downsides is though the various companies over time have trashed the land with abandoned pipelines and other equipment.

We (all of us who inherited the parcel) were concerned that OSHA, Greenpeace, the EPA or someone would find a way to fine us, the owners, for the mess and possible environmental concerns left by others. We elected to sell the land and keep the mineral rights. We sold the land cheap with the understanding that it was leased out and all working fixtures would stay. I think the new owner has cattle on the land.

Anyway, we paid Texas property tax before. Now, we still have to pay property tax on the minerals below ground, the new owners have to pay property tax, and we've always had to pay state and fed taxes on any oil pumped and sold by the leasing company. We pay about the same taxes now for just the underground minerals that we paid on the property when we owned it.

In other words, TX is now receiving double the taxes.