Property taxes remain a major sticking point in Texas, particularly for Hispanics who describe the situation as a “major burden.”
Even before a report published by the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) earlier this year showed how wildly increases have swung upward this year, the issue was drawing bipartisan support for decreasing the property tax burden on all Texas citizens.
"It’s not a stretch to say that property taxes are out of control in the Lone Star State,” TPPF Policy Director James Quintero wrote in a recent newsletter addressing the issue. “As a result, local governments are getting rich while families are forced to make hard decisions."
As it is, property tax in all 10 most populous cities and counties outstripped this preferred rate over the period 2016-2020.
A recent TPPF survey finding that 71% of Hispanics across the state now describe their local property taxes as a “major burden.”
A Texas Public Policy Foundation's "Just the Facts: Property Taxes in Texas’ Most Populous Cities, Counties and School Districts" report further details that property taxes are “the largest tax assessed in Texas.” As recently as in 2019, nearly 50% of all tax dollars collected in the state came from property taxes, with as many 4,256 separate property taxing units in Texas in the fiscal year of 2019, some of which overlap.
In addition, The Balance ranked Texas among 10 states with the highest property tax rates in the United States with a median payment of $4,065 per year and the Tax Foundation found that the state had the sixth highest property tax rate measured as property taxes paid as a percentage of owner occupied housing value in 2019.
Hispanics in Texas also overwhelmingly support allowing parents to choose where their kids go to school, regardless of what district they live in, even if it is a charter or private school.
“Like most Americans, Hispanic Texans care deeply about public safety and the quality of education for their kids and future generations,” said Rafa Bejar, TPPF’s director of outreach. “They see the crime and violence in their communities and the federal government’s unwillingness to respond to the border crisis, so it’s no wonder that this is chief among their concerns.”