Attention Fred Hill ---- Property Tax Complaints not Just Houston Problem.

Where is a hoe when you need it. According to Fred Hill (Rino) Richardson, out of control property appraisal growth is only a Houston problem, well according to the USA Today, it is a growing national problem. Check out the 2 articles below.

USATODAY.com - Soaring property taxes elicit backlash among homeowners
USATODAY.com - States attack property taxes

Last summer, the booming area around Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, had 700 homes for sale. This year, 3,400 homes are on the market.
Realtor and anti-tax activist Sharon Culbreth says soaring property taxes are partly to blame for the glut.
"It's not just that the market is softening," she says. "Many people have put their houses on the market because they fear losing their homes. The old-timers are afraid they won't be able to pay property taxes that have doubled or tripled."
Anger over rising property taxes is reverberating in many states that do not already have strict limits. State legislatures and some local governments are starting to cut property taxes, often shifting the burden to the sales tax.
Fallout from property tax cuts is wide and complicated. The changes are shifting public school financing from locally controlled property taxes to state-controlled sales and income taxes.
The changes also are carving out new winners and losers. Tax exemptions are being expanded for the elderly, the disabled, veterans and people who have owned their homes for long periods. New Jersey is considering taxing business property at a higher rate than residential property, a practice some other states use.
The property tax is under fire in states that have high property taxes, such as New Jersey, and states that don't, such as Idaho. The rebellion is mostly in states that have had soaring home values, but it's also found in some states that haven't, such as Indiana.

"We have people coming to Idaho, buying property at high prices and driving up home prices," the governor says. "That's a good thing, in a way. But it's also causing home assessments to double and triple."
Gene Ealy, 80, of Coeur d'Alene, saw the assessment on his home rise 57% last year and 62% this year, reaching $355,000. His taxes didn't rise that much — many local governments shave a few cents off the tax rate when assessments rise rapidly — but they have had an impact.
"The value of our homes is being set by people moving in here that value our property a great deal higher than we do," he says. "It's deadly on fixed-income people."
Ealy has investments that will let him stay in his home, but he knows other elderly people who are being forced to sell

Jim Smith, the elected property appraiser in Pinellas County, Fla., which includes St. Petersburg and Clearwater, says government spending is the problem, not higher property values. He says elected officials use higher assessments as a way to raise taxes without admitting it.
"It's the big lie," Smith says. "I'm fed up with them claiming they cut taxes because they lowered the tax rate, at the same time they're collecting more money because of higher assessments."

Mr. Smith, sounds a lot like another person we all know Paul Bettencourt
Then there is this from the second article

Property taxes have risen 27% since 2000, after adjusting for inflation and population growth. That's less than the 41% inflation-adjusted increase in home values, but it's twice as fast as the growth in sales or income taxes.

Property taxes now consume a greater share of personal income — 3.4% — than any time since 1992, according to a USA TODAY analysis.

Economists generally like the property tax because it is stable. "The property tax is a fantastic tax for things that are purely local because, under those circumstances, it does not function like a tax. It's more like a user fee," says Harvard University economist Caroline Hoxby.

Seniors on fixed incomes, however, are especially angry about property taxes because big increases could force some to give up their homes. "It hits a vulnerable part of our population, namely the elderly," Risch says.

Memo to Rick Perry, You can now see that this issue is serious and you should be serious about making significant changes to the State tax system, instead of looking for new ways to tax businesses, and grabbing millions of acres of land for the Trans Texas corridor. You need to put people like Paul Bettencourt on the Committee that you have formed to examine appraisal caps and the other issues with regards to property taxes. Also you need to stop listening to the TML and the other groups that are lobbying you to ignore this issue. Your election depends upon this issue being resolved BEFORE November, other wise you could become the first sitting Governor to not be re-elected since the 1980's. It is your choice.