Anyone care to discuss their state income tax?

BengalB, there are actually folks employed by the cities who determine tax appraisals up here. They do scour the neighborhoods and examine houses for capital improvements/additions to the outside of the property. Appraisals can vary widely within a subdivision, as well. However, home owners associations are a big deal up here, so people are not allowed to let their property go to *%$#, or they will have a lein placed on their property.

Property taxes are serious business up here because they finance local education and roads.

 

I like the Texas system, especially how they appraise homes and assess taxes. Here in Louisiana, all you have to do is grease the palms of the parish assessor and your 6 bedroom, 5.5 bath house magically falls under the homestead exemption line. This has been going on in my part of the state for years, and it absolutely KILLS local public schools. Every once in a while, Baton Rouge will crack down and try to keep parish tax assessors honest, but as soon as the heat is off, things go back to the way they were. With Dan Kyle no longer legislative auditor, there is not much heat applied anymore period.

The local property tax system is, in my opinion, the best way to fund public school systems. It keeps taxes and money local, it keeps the public interest focused and targeted, and it makes it easier to track and police that money. And having no state income tax is a very good idea for limiting the growth and power of the state government. It's hardly a coincidence that, with the two tax systems so radically different, Louisiana has one of the most powerful governors of any state, while the governor of Texas wields much less power in relation.

Ya'll Texas folks may think your property taxes are draconian, but it is the price you pay to send your children to good public schools. You get what you pay for. Instead, pity us poor fools, who cling to homestead exemption like it's the only thing standing between us and the poorhouse, while we send bigger and bigger chunks of our paychecks to Baton Rouge to get stolen and redistributed the good ol' Louisiana way, and the whole time our public school system, already pathetic, decays even more.

I'll probably be joining you folks in east Texas after I graduate too.

 

That's what we were gonna do. Wonder what happened to all that lottery money?

 

that was the purpose of our lottery as well in TX, but the reality is that idea has failed miserably. now, they want to tax strip clubs to pay for education...GREAT IDEA!!!!!

As far as how they decide your property taxes, it is all crooked. My house has gone up in "value" per the tax records by almost $45K in the 4 years we have lived there. If I could make that much selling it, I would be cool with it, but actually I would probably make a little less. there is no rhyme or reason as to how they figure yourproperty tax except for what houses are selling for in your area, what is being built near your area (new high school, highways, malls, etc), and how much of a tax increase you voted for the previous year.

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

 

Lottery money always seems to magically "disappear." That's the case in Texas, and I know it's also that way in Louisiana.

My one big beef with Texas property taxes is that renters get off scott-free in that department, while homeowners foot the bill for the roads and schools. Still, the public schools in my area are very good. I teach middle school English, and I have ten student computers (with Internet access) in my classroom. Every classroom has ten, plus there are three computer labs with 30 + computers each. Additionally, teachers' salaries are substantially higher than Louisiana's. My father is a high school assistant principal with 30 years experience. I make almost as much as he does as a teacher with 12 years.