Texans...anyone else seeing a large property tax increase?

Capt W

Capt W

Joined
Apr 12, 2021
Messages
663
Location
Corpus Christi, TX
We bought our house in Corpus Christi in March 2023. The assessments and taxes were actually quite stable for tax years 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Just got my 2026 Notice of Appraised Value. Here are my 2026 vs. 2025 deltas:

Market value: -1.88%
Appraised value +9.1%
Estimated 2026 tax: +17.45%

I thought the 17 amendments the voters approved in November 2025 were supposed to "significantly expand property tax relief for homeowners..."

Yeah, right. I am going to file a protest for sure. Pure BS.
 
my house In OH went up 50% this year and 30+% 3 years ago
property value probably went up from 80k to maybe 110k in 10 years. yet taxes almost doubled in last 6.
AND the local school decided to shoot for the 11mil levy which if I did my math right is another 20%

And they wonder why people are trying to delete property taxes in ohio..
is it a bad idea.. probably but there was no relief from the state government.
they finally pushed something through I should get about 5% back next half..... pffft.
 
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Our appraised value went down this year by 5%, but had been rising by 10% for the previous several years, which was the maximum allowed due to it being our homestead and living here for over 25 years.

We filed a protest last year, and not only did they deny it, they then tried to say a shed/outbuilding I built almost 25 years ago was too close to the property line and they would need to come check our property for potential violations. My wife immediately told them we had a city permit when it was built and had been inspected and within all codes.They didn't come out, but no doubt they did all they could from the street and aerial mapping.

We came away from our protest feeling marginalized and victimized. Our appraisal district has gotten so money-hungry, they have forgotten to whom they work for. I better not check my blood pressure for a while. Good luck.
 
They're gonna get their tax money from somewhere. They're paying the same higher costs for everything that we are and all those roads, schools, playgrounds, police, fire trucks etc ain't getting any cheaper. Property valuation does seem like a black art, ours never seems to be very close to what the actual sales prices around here are, so I can understand the frustration.

It does seem odd that states and localities have no problem implementing what amounts to a wealth tax (ie a tax on the value of your home), but God forbid you suggest maybe there should be a wealth tax on other kinds of property (ie stocks), oh no you can't do that 😁
jeff
 
I've had a tax firm protest on my behalf the last 3 years and its been worth it every time. Also, every time the local municipalities have raised taxes each time as well, no matter what the Governor tries they just raise it more. Its a heck of a grift on both sides.

Do not try protesting yourself, unless you can speak their language. Its not english. Plus they will use any and every tactic to pull comps that is in their favor. They dont care about you.

I dont know if they will represent your area, but its worth an inquiry or find a similar local firm. https://www.fivestonetax.com/
 
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cptbarkey said:
I've had a tax firm protest on my behalf the last 3 years and its been worth it every time. Also, every time the local municipalities have raised taxes each time as well, no matter what the Governor tries they just raise it more. Its a heck of a grift on both sides.

Do not try protesting yourself, unless you can speak their language. Its not english. Plus they will use any and every tactic to pull comps that is in their favor. They dont care about you.

I dont know if they will represent your area, but its worth an inquiry or find a similar local firm. https://www.fivestonetax.com/
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This is what I told my wife last year, but she wanted to go for it, which we did and failed. Afterwards, I told her we'd pay somebody to fight it his year. Their lowering our property valuation by 5% gets us pretty close to what I think is fair, especially after seeing what some of our neighbor's valuations came in at (public records).

This year we'll be filing for my 65 and older exemption. This doesn't change the property valuation, but limits the amount of taxes some taxing authorities can charge.
 
rstsco said:
This year we'll be filing for my 65 and older exemption. This doesn't change the property valuation, but limits the amount of taxes some taxing authorities can charge.
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I will be seventy this year along with my wife and I consider the notion of giving tax preferences to the wealthiest age cohort in America misguided at best.
Yes, there are struggling older Americans, but there are many more younger American families struggling with the expenses of child rearing, the cost of feeding their families and the cost of housing them.
How about some help for the poorer among us before those of us who are relatively well off?
 
This is exactly why California has Prop 13 property tax protection that limits property tax increases to a maximum of 2% per year. This initiative was enacted in 1976.

At the time property values were increasing so rapidly people were losing their homes because they could no longer afford their property taxes. This is one thing California has done right, but the super majority government we have in Cali has for years tried everything it can to repeal it.

Scott
 
Bad News=My condo in NW Chicago burbs got a significant bump this year
Good News=My HOA apparently hired a lawyer to fight all of the condo owners increases and apparently they won, don't know the exact details yet but any decrease I'll consider a victory
 
JeffKeryk said:
As others have said, the state funds have to come from somewhere. CA has higher state income tax, based on taxable salary. For lower earners, it is actually lower than many states. Texas needs $$ just like every other state.
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No state property tax in Texas, My statement is itemized....City, County, ISD, Water district, & Community College.
 
I’m near Arlington and our property taxes have steadily increased over the last 5 or so years, but has leveled-off a bit the last couple.

I did get my appraised value reduced by about $60k last year, that saved a few hundred bucks.

The state and particularly ISDs need to generate money somehow.

Wife and I are corporate monkeys and we draw decent salaries. But after living in CA for most of our lives, we’re money ahead, and by quite a lot, in TX comparatively.

Our TX prop tax burden is nowhere near what we paid in CA state income tax.
 
cptbarkey said:
I've had a tax firm protest on my behalf the last 3 years and its been worth it every time. Also, every time the local municipalities have raised taxes each time as well, no matter what the Governor tries they just raise it more. Its a heck of a grift on both sides.

Do not try protesting yourself, unless you can speak their language. Its not english. Plus they will use any and every tactic to pull comps that is in their favor. They dont care about you.

I dont know if they will represent your area, but its worth an inquiry or find a similar local firm. https://www.fivestonetax.com/
Click to expand...
It isn’t that bad. These outfits charge too much, and at least for our commercial property, it was too invasive. All you need to do is know a realtor, and have him pull recent sales for dwellings in your proximity. Find the ones that are close to your home, the “cheapest”, and determine the value per square foot. Then present that data. I was able to knock some $50K off my assessment. The big problem is that the sales data isn’t public, so you need someone with MLS access.
 
greenjp said:
They're gonna get their tax money from somewhere. They're paying the same higher costs for everything that we are and all those roads, schools, playgrounds, police, fire trucks etc ain't getting any cheaper. Property valuation does seem like a black art, ours never seems to be very close to what the actual sales prices around here are, so I can understand the frustration.

It does seem odd that states and localities have no problem implementing what amounts to a wealth tax (ie a tax on the value of your home), but God forbid you suggest maybe there should be a wealth tax on other kinds of property (ie stocks), oh no you can't do that 😁
jeff
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I agree with this - they're gonna get their money for increased costs somewhere. It's interesting reading this thread, I live in Greensboro, NC and the city just released it's latest assessment and people are up in arms (lol) because many (most?) of the property values went up 40%+. Lot's of angry citizens but what are you gonna do? We rent right now but I can't imagine those increases are gonna be great for renters either. Life can be expensive sometimes.
 
fdcg27 said:
I will be seventy this year along with my wife and I consider the notion of giving tax preferences to the wealthiest age cohort in America misguided at best.
Yes, there are struggling older Americans, but there are many more younger American families struggling with the expenses of child rearing, the cost of feeding their families and the cost of housing them.
How about some help for the poorer among us before those of us who are relatively well off?
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How about not taking money from people that earned it and giving that money to people/groups/ organizations who didn't earn it.
 
GON said:
How about not taking money from people that earned it and giving that money to people/groups/ organizations who didn't earn it.
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And how about not taking money from childless couples to pay for schools and other child related needs. I've noticed all the people angry about high taxes never seem to mention that side of things, since of course they all have kids and are just fine making childless couples subsidize them.
 
Our appraised value went down from 2024 to 2025 by 2.6% and the tax bill went down by 4.8%, a welcome surprise.

Between the property tax, personal property tax, ~6% state income tax, 1% City income tax, and 8-9% sales tax there really is no relief.
 
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