A few facts about Texas’ broken property tax system

In light of today’s hearing in Senate Finance on Senate Bill 182, a measure to bring long-term structural reform to Texas’ property tax system.

• Texas’ property tax system is one of the nation’s most punishing. According to the Tax Foundation’s latest national rankings, Texas has the 14^th worst property tax climate in the U.S. (Source: Tax Foundation’s The Facts on Texas Tax Climate)
• Texas’ property tax system is becoming progressively worse compared to its peers. According to the Tax Foundation, the Lone Star State’s local governments “collected approximately $1,559 per person in property taxes in 2012, which ranks 14^th highest nationally.” That figure is up from $1,393 per capita in 2008 when the Tax Foundation ranked Texas’ property tax system ranked as the 17^th most burdensome in the U.S. (Source: Tax Foundation’s The Facts on Texas Tax Climate)
• Texas’ property tax burden is outpacing population growth by a factor of almost 5-to-1. From 1992 to 2010, Texas’ population grew by 40 percent. In contrast, local property tax levies soared by 188 percent. (Source: Texas Comptroller’s Your Money and the Taxing Facts, pg. 6)
• Texas’ property tax system is punishing for homeowners. From 2010 to 2012, the three-year average annual property tax burden for a homeowner in Texas was $2,477. By comparison, the same three-year tax average for a homeowner in the South Region was $1,411 and $2,091 in the U.S. (Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Homeowners and the Texas Property Tax)
• Texas’ property tax system is a burden on businesses. From 2007 to 2011, property taxes as percentage of total business taxes grew from 38.4 percent to 44.1 percent. (Source: Texas Comptroller, The Business Tax Advisory Committee Report to the 83^rd Texas Legislature, pg. 7)
• Texas’ property tax burden is outpacing population and inflation combined. From 2000 to 2011, property tax levies grew 79.8 percent whereas population and inflation increased just 53.2 percent. (Source: Texas Public Policy Foundation)
• Statewide property tax levies have a track-record of growing too fast. From 1994 to 2013, property taxes levied statewide saw an average annual increase of 5.82 percent. (Source: Texas Comptroller’s Biennial Property Tax Report for Tax Years 2012 and 2013, pg. 9)
• Lots of local governments have the power to levy property taxes in Texas. There are more than 4,000 local governments levying a property tax in Texas—which oftentimes overlap one another in assessing the tax. (Source: Texas Comptroller’s Biennial Property Tax Report for Tax Years 2012 and 2013, pg. 7)
• Texas’ property tax is the single largest tax assessed at either the state or local level. In fiscal year 2013, property tax levied statewide grew to more than $45 billion, which accounts for almost half of all state and local tax revenues. (Source: Texas Comptroller’s Biennial Property Tax Report for Tax Years 2012 and 2013, pg. 1)