Oconnor is OK. Read the reviews, their fees are also higher.
I use Ortiz, UH guys, out of Cypress.
City folk pay those same taxes. And then some.
What are their rates ?
True, city of houston property tax rate is around .55 / $100 looks like. My MUD rate is lower, but
I think my county services tax bill may be higher. Not sure how city and county “share” the wealth.
Water bill added in the steep surface water conversion fee too a few years ago. It’s a pretty hefty fee.
Wasn’t there a deal a while back that if values went up the city had to cut back it’s rates so they don’t keep grabbing more money? Their was some sort of cap I recall.
1 Like
I feel like we’ve voted for a lot of things in this arena in the past few election cycles, yet nothing seems to change.
40% others are 50%
I moved from Cypress to New Mexico about 4 years ago. If you combine property and income taxes, we are about the same. Our property taxes are about 1/4th of what we paid in Texas, but we have approximate 4.5% income tax. In my case, it comes out about even.
When they do the income tax with property tax , it’s fairer bc like you said, it comes out the same however the diff is that you can hold onto your home, have a bigger house and it doesn’t impact the poor as much. Right now in Texas , it’s a struggle for people to buy and house and pay the tax and for renters, it gets passed down to higher rents. With an income tax and property tax, if your in between jobs , you don’t pay the income tax. In Texas, regardless of employment, you owe a bunch. We really need for the legislature to do a minimal income tax bc property taxes will make the poor suffer and middle income people struggle.
If the state implemented an income tax, do you really believe they would lower the property tax rate? I have a friend in Long Island. They pay the same property tax rate as I do in Sienna AND state income tax.
1 Like
Yeah, nope…if we get a state income tax we wont pay less in property tax.
1 Like
They don’t share with each other at all. City and County are separate entities with separate tax rates, but all collected by the County Tax Assessor-Collector.
Everybody in the County (or City, or other political entity) gets taxed at the same rate by that entity, but you’ve got to look at all the political jurisdictions you’re in. Easiest way is to look at your HCAD Account, which breaks down all the taxes collected by the County Tax Assessor-Collector. Be aware that some MUDs have their own separate Tax Assessors that collect only MUD taxes, separate from the County Tax Assessor.
Depending on where you live you may have County, HCFCD, ISD, emergency services district, Port Authority, MUD, etc, etc, etc
Just to throw another curveball, some folks get to pay City, County AND MUD taxes. Generally MUDs exist only in the unincorporated County, but there are a few “in-city” MUDs. I’m a Director on one in the City of Houston. It’s a different animal, even for folks that know the MUD industry. 
2 Likes
I was wondering if a resident in Houston city limits has the same line item billings on their county tax bill as a resident that lives in an unincorporated area of the county. The Houston resident on the city property tax bill probably pays for HPD, Houston Fire Department, and other things. The unincorporated county resident does not use HPD or HFD and gets these services from HCSO and
some volunteer fire department. So you would think the city residents overall county tax bill would
be less then the unincorporated residents county tax bill, who gets services directly from the county.
Don’t forget HCC and Harris Hospital.
I agree, I also wonder if that has every happened in the history of man.
1 Like
So, someone in the City does pay for HPD (through City tax) and HCSO (through County tax). Sort of a double dip. But overall, the total tax rate is completely dependent on where you live. Generally we all pay for the same basic services like police, fire, garbage, water, sewer, drainage, etc. Who you pay taxes to to recieve those services is different.
Most people that are not in a city are located within a MUD. Cities provide water and sewer, the County does not. So water and sewer are provided by MUD.
Road and drainage maintenance gets more complicated. Harris County generally maintains roads in unincorporated County, and City maintains roads in City limits. However, City residents also pay County taxes, so some County funds do pay for road projects in the City.
Then tack on MUDs, which also have the power to perform drainage projects. And some MUDs have road powers, depending on whether they are granted those powers by the state. I think all MUDs have the ability to pay for parks and rec improvements now, but not all MUDs choose to spend their money on it.
Basically, some MUDs choose to spend the bare minimum, providing water and sewer only, and some choose to raise taxes for “quality of life” issues like parks. All dependent on the makeup of the MUD Board of Directors, who are all property owners within the MUD and elected by MUD residents.
This clears it up for me. City limits dwellers get hit hardest then. Doesn’t seem fair; but that’s always the case when discussing any taxes.
Sidewalks is another touchy subject. After a few years, they sink in some places and jut up
in other places. Originally our HOA said it was our responsibility to fix. Later on, all the non level
sections of sidewalks started to get replaced. Not sure who paid for it…but my guess was the
MUD. Our MUD also purchased a fairly large empty track of land and made it into park.
The thing about our property tax system that’s so out-of-line is the extreme burden imposed by taxing unrecognized gains. So, the real estate market has been hot and driven up property values. This doesn’t increase the tax revenue needs at the same rate, and the whole system is set up to keep assessed values rising.
An income tax isn’t happening, but property taxes should be tied to some combination of the actual purchase price (tax basis) and a limited inflation factor. This provides a stable tax base for collection, and it would eliminate these shadow tax hikes caused by inflated values.
I have some unimproved land that I’m in the process of building on. Its value increased 130% this year. That’s an outrageous tax increase, even if the area market was superheated. Market values should never determine tax revenues.
4 Likes
You don’t have to pay California taxes though. And do you live in Kansas or Missouri?
Very well said. That needs to be fixed. Instead we have developed a cottage industry to deal with
HCAD or whomever is your appraisal authority.