Strike The Root Blog

A Texas-sized Tax Bill

I waited in line today to pay my annual property taxes (I don’t trust these people, so I wanted a receipt). Texas has no state income tax, so localities make up for it with property taxes. My home is a nice place, but no mansion; it’s 4 bedrooms and 3450 square feet, appraised at somewhere in the low $400,000s. (Wanna buy? I’m selling it in a couple months to move back to Colorado.)

The tax rate is a little less than 3%, typical for most of the municipalities around here. We received some sort of homestead exemption, bringing down their take to about $9700. Ouch.

Standing in line, I noted an Hispanic woman in front of me pulling out cold cash. She flashed six $100 bills and some odds & ends. The clerk mentioned something about lot #46, so I surmised trailer park. Doing the math, that’s probably about right; she’s sitting on a perhaps $25,000 trailer lot somewhere. Taxes, of course, still due. Perhaps she’s wise to park in that trailer no matter what her income rises to. I’m now tempted to buy a double-wide myself.

Behind me, an elderly woman mentioned something about being on a fixed income. Her house continues to appraise in value. Lucky her–her tax bill, too, continues to rise. I had heard of elderly people being forced out of their homes in the past, homes in which they had lived most of their lives and had paid off. Apparently our heroes, the Politicians, have finally granted significant exemptions for seniors.

Another big obscenity I noted was the intolerance for late fees. Here, government is far worse than the supposedly greedy credit card companies. My payment is due January 31. If it’s one day late or 28 days late, I pay a whopping $700 late fee, over 7%. Each subsequent month tacks on an additional $400 or so of late fees. Maybe my math is wrong, but that’s close to 50% per year. I doubt even Guido of the syndicate charges so much juice on a loan. Nah, Guido just snaps your leg; much less painful.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 4:02 pm and is filed under bureaucracy, taxes, money, stupid taxpayer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “A Texas-sized Tax Bill”

Robert Jackson Says:
January 30th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Colorado is better than Texas? I’ve got family members planning to leave Maryland for Texas because the tax situation is better. What’s the CO story?
Jeff Langr Says:
January 30th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Colorado has a state income tax rate of about 4.85%, at least as of when I left a year and a half ago. Real estate tax will of course vary from place to place, but typically you’ll find that it’s reasonable. I was paying about $1000 in a $250,000 place (assessed at a good deal less). Most of the houses I’m looking at (around Broomfield, Denver tech center, and Colorado Springs, in the $250,000 - $350,000 range) have taxes ranging between $1000 and $2500. There are a few odd places, like a golf community north of Colorado Springs, where you’ll find tax rates around $4500. I’m not sure what Boulder is like.

The school system as usual gets the largest chunk of the property taxes. Granted, the high school where my kids go is one of the best in the state, but Colorado (despite bumper sticker claims to the contrary) isn’t at the bottom, either, and Texas isn’t proportionally that much better.

As I recall, Maryland state income tax was around 5%, but I don’t remember what the real estate taxes were like. I do remember that they didn’t have that stupid property tax on vehicles. Both Texas and Colorado have those, to a tune of anywhere from $50 to $500 a year depending on the age and value of the vehicle.

One way or another, they get you. I figure all things considered, my total taxation here is a bit more than elsewhere, but not as much as it seems from just looking at the property tax.
Robert Jackson Says:
January 31st, 2008 at 8:04 am
Maryland has a sales tax that just went to 6% this month, a state income tax, a county income tax (1/3 of the state), real estate taxes on houses appraised at 300,000 to a million inside the DC demesne (over 5k this upcoming year for yours truly).

People come here hoping to get a seat at the federal trough. When they retire, they get out of Dodge.
Jeff Langr Says:
January 31st, 2008 at 9:11 am
One big problem seems to be that they find ways to trickle in the taxes from every angle, so it’s really hard to know in how many ways you’re getting slowly roasted.
when are income taxes due Says:
February 21st, 2008 at 2:15 pm
when are income taxes due…

Very interesting post. A little bit confusing, but still ok….

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A Texas-sized Tax Bill

5 Responses to “A Texas-sized Tax Bill”

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