Tax revolt is under way in Texas

Just a little appraisal news.
As of August 1st, The Harris county Appraisal Board still had over 200,000 property value protests that still had not even seen the light of a first review. At the current pace of case resolution, the ARB will not be able to certify the tax rolls till possibly as late as mid SEPTEMBER. This is with the people at HCAD working 12 hour days to relieve the backlog. Which means your tax bills could be late in arriving.

The extreme number of appraisal protests has prompted the head of HCAD to get this, admonish the taxing entities, for not lowering their tax rates as the appraisal values increased. According to my sources, this person has said that, "Most MUD districts are attempting to lower their rate every year, however the school districts, and county refuse to lower theirs which is now producing record revenue increases for those entities."

Guess we are starting to have our tax revolt, and the appraisal district is the one getting kicked between the legs. The tax collection agencies from around town are being kept up to date on the status of the protests, and tax roll certification through weekly meetings with HCAD management. My source confirmed that the record number of appraisal protests is a direct result of the following factors, 1) several years of 8% or higher appraisal increases which have lead to a 50% increase in taxable value. 2) the fact that Gov Perry and the Republicans in the Texas Legislature failed again to pass a meaningful appraisal legislation. 3) Gov Perry and his $2000 tax savings campaign that has turned out to be a bold faced lie.

These sources also believe that the number of tax protests will be even higher next year, and that if enough protests are filed, and the backlog becomes big enough, that within a couple of years, HCAD may not be able to certify tax rolls. If that happens, EVERY SINGLE TAXING ENTITY that uses HCAD Appraisals will not be able to levy their taxes the following year. I am in the process of trying to find out what it is like in some of the other heavily populated counties both around Houston, as well as the state. More info as it comes available.