It may explain California to you but it doesn’t explain markets in other cities like Denver, Austin, or Phoenix.
Everything is expensive because housing supply is artificially constrained.
Everything is expensive because housing supply is artificially constrained.
So, typically the tax authorities will asses your home value one year and increase that, then your land value the next year and increase that, and the switch back to the home value for the third year, and just keep switching back and forth, and meanwhile pushing against that 10% limit as hard as they can every year.
But you do have to make sure that you get that "homestead" declaration filed correctly.
There are a number of ambulance-chaser type law firms in Texas that specialize in fighting tax assessments that increase by too much, and many of them work by taking the deal for free and then they'll split the savings with you if they win. Be careful who you choose in this space.
My tax rates seem essentially fraudulent and designed to bleed me dry. My comparisons include houses twice as large, in better school districts, with views, with pools, etc. The firms who help protect me from getting robbed by this bureaucratic exploitation are more akin to an honorable defense attorney protecting a wrongfully accused victim.
And of course, the whole notion of increasing property taxes is absurd. The government budget for next year should be roughly the same as this year. If house prices went up 10% that doesn't mean that the entire state government budget went up 10%.
Yes, they perform a service, and I'm sure some of them are appreciated by some of their clients -- just like ambulance chasers.
My wife also happens to be a lawyer, and her opinion of them is lower than mine.
I honestly don't know what you're getting out outside of snide political commentary.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/13/us/california-budget-surp...