Well, as most of you know that I am still fighting with Travis County, + have been for the last 3 years on giving me my homestead + over 65 exemptions, no luck so far. Now, on Friday, I received a letter from Williamson County, retracting both of those exemptions from my property, with no explanation. They said I had 30 days to respond online, BS, My son is going to take me down in person on Monday to see what the hell is going on. IMO, the long + the short of it is that they want more money for their infrastructure, so taking away your legal rights is a way of getting it. That being said, if I ever have to buy another piece of property, I will make damned sure that the county line doesn't run through it.

Along those same lines, I have a friend/neighbor who is turning 89 + they have jacked his taxes where he can't pay, + when he told them so, all they said, was , then you'll just have to sell + we can get somebody in here who can. Actually, that brought back a memory from about 8 years ago when my daughter-in-law went on my son's behave to contest the Williamson County taxes, + they told her to her face was that they were raising taxes to get "people like you" out of there + turn the area into another Lakeway sub div + golf course. Excuse me, 'PEOPLE LIKE YOU/' I wish she had a tape recorder in her purse, but that would not have done any good. Wilco is so full of graft that they have been able to get away with anything they want. Where the hell are the Texas Rangers, or some "authority" that can curb this?

Power and money take away all humanity.

I just cannot imagine that man's situation. He's been a 'faithful' taxpayer all his life and they tell him to GFH.

Oh, as I was driving in town today, I saw all; these placards saying "Vote yes for our children!" well, that says it all right there. They are wanting to pass another bond for more schools. I wish to hell that we would get a representative in office who would exempt over 65 from paying school taxes. I paid them before I had kids, then paid them when I did (no problem there), then have to continue to pay after retirement for other folk's kids. Sounds to me like we need someone in office who is concerned about wants of the constituents + not kow-towing to the $$$. Oh, + BTW, Ann, John is supposed to go in for heart bypass surgery, but now he is so disgusted by this tax situation that he said he would just rather die, to get out of all this crap.

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BTW, Ann, John is supposed to go in for heart bypass surgery, but now he is so disgusted by this tax situation that he said he would just rather die, to get out of all this crap.

That's very sad.

I think there should be a point that seniors just get to bypass any sort of taxes.

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I think there should be a point that seniors just get to bypass any sort of taxes.

Especially social security and real property taxes!

buddy of mine told me that over 65 their property taxes are frozen. guadalupe co. my CPA said no, thats not true. my wife said its school taxes frozen if over 65. i need to get em all in a room and watch the fun. i would like to know though. and randys right, why the hell should we have to pay school taxes when our kids are all over 40 and none have kids here. we pay school taxes to HAYES CO, high as hell, and we live in guadalupe co. we are in the hays co. school district, i know, but screw that. i hate paying in the first place, but now i have to support their chicks with diks programs.

Exactly. Every time you go to the appraisal district, the reply is always the same, "We don't make the policy, just enforce it." BS! So WHO is responsible?! Nobody it seems. If we had a name, we could vote the bum out. Again, I still think our legislators could fix this if they wanted to. After all, they are supposed to be working for us.

My property borders the county line but somehow I am stuck paying the higher school tax for the next door county. I have never been happy about that.

Yeah, we have had a problem in the past with the "Robin Hood" act that makes more affluent districts pay for the smaller ones. That has been a bone of contention for quite some time. I will post on Monday evening about how it goes at the appraisal district. My son will be going with me, if for no other reason, to keep me from going to jail.

Good luck.

It actually worked out O.K. We got there at 8:00 + got right in. The woman pulled it up on her screen + said, "I don't know why they sent you this, everything is fine." Then showed me her screen. Sure, the property value doubled in one year, but the taxes will not increase. I don't get it, but all I really care about when they are talking Greek is the bottom line. IMO, that is all that counts. She did mention that there are numerous bills being presented in the legislature right now that its hard to keep count; however, she said that the one to follow is the one where the state is voting to change the 10% cap rate to 5%. We shall see.

Hmm, sounds good up front but the warning is all that is going on in legislature.

Exactly! Those folks are never concerned on giving up money. But you know, if we had not gone down in person, I'm sure there would have been a monetary increase. Monday morning we are going to Travis (for the 6th time) to see if we can reenact the magic. O.K., this is a rhetorical question," Why should I have to fight for what is already a legally given right?"

Never give up.

Still got the bit in my teeth.

On reading back on my post on the 12th, I must add that while being concerned on taxation issues, that my last comment was also very applicable to our current "gun issues". On that, I will assume that most readers here will agree.

The worst tax of all is the inheritance tax, you've paid property tax all your life on your land and now your kids have to pay a higher tax after your death. Lots of farms and businesses have been lost because of greed.

I received my appraisals and my market value increased 36% in one year on both my properties.

I've always felt that property tax is a terrible way to collect taxes. I think an income and consumption tax is a much better way.

The problem with property tax is it remains constant, regardless of the person's income. If I lost my job or became disabled and had a decrease in income, I could find ways to cut my consumption, save on utilities etc.

In the current property tax scenario, your home is the thing that drags you down when you might need it the most.

Of course, some in our state leadership paint themselves into a corner by pushing legislation that prevents or bans them from considering taxing scenario's that might shift the state tax structure to an income/consumption model.

I know I'm beating my head against the wall by saying this once again. The biggest drain on the property taxes are the schools. I still feel that folks over 65 should be exempt from school taxes.if our legislatures were TRULY for the people, they would pass that bill. But then again, those of us over 65 don't have that many voting years left, do we?

quote:

Originally posted by Norman Conquest:
I know I'm beating my head against the wall by saying this once again. The biggest drain on the property taxes are the schools. I still feel that folks over 65 should be exempt from school taxes.if our legislatures were TRULY for the people, they would pass that bill. But then again, those of us over 65 don't have that many voting years left, do we?

Norman,
I'm looking at my appraisal for Denton County right now. Every county is different in TX.
In Denton County, under exemptions, the over 65 exemption places a school tax ceiling equal to the rate on the date you qualified for the exemption.

In other words, it freezes at that amount and cannot go up. I agree with you that school taxes should go away for retirees.

Better yet, we go to an income/consumption tax model.

I'm all for that; just like I'm all for each motorist being insured as an individual, not every car. It makes perfect sense, you can only drive one car at a time, + the better your driving record is, the better your rates. They do it in Arizona, so I know it can be done, but the Insurance Company lobbyists fight to make sure that never happens.

one thing you may try Texas Tax Protest 2144462235 out of Dallas but have been helpful and do not charge if they do not help you out