Never owned a home before, but do property taxes also cover Garage square footage and second floors?

Property taxes are based on the appraised value of the land and any improvements.

hmmm. Was looking at possible homes in the future. Property taxes annoy me so I was trying to figure out how much a year it'd cost me in property taxes for a 1700 square foot home. It'll be outside an incorporated area.

Easiest way is to look at the comparable properties in the area your are looking at as well as dropping by the county property tax office.

You can find the rates for your county online, most likely.  ;)

Yep, Simple example:

http://www.dallasact.com/act_webdev/dallas/index.jsp

Punch in, Aikman, Troy

Select the St Johns property.

Taxes are $84,792.86

House boat or RV.

There are two pieces: 1} The appraised value  2} The tax rate for each jurisdiction taxing you (there could be 8-10 different ones i.e. School District,  County, City,water district, hospital district, flood control/drainage district, community college...)

The value of the land plus the value of the improvements (house, pools, decks, outbuildings, water wells).  The value per square foot comes from comparison with similar properties in the area. The garage area will be valued at less per square foot than the heated/cooled area.  A carport is valued less than a detached garage. A storage building with an air conditioner in it will get valued like the living area of your house.

And at least now they streamlined it a bit.  Years ago I owned a place that was in the city of Dallas but in Collin county, well actually had the Collin/Denton line going down the middle of it.  For a while I had 3 tax bills.

If you get royalties from a well, you will get a tax bill for that too.

I despise property taxes.  

Nobody likes them, but they are better than income taxes...

My property tax on a modest (below average value for the Austin area) house is around $4500 a year...  Which seems a little high...  BUT...  if I lived where my parents do, while I'd probably only be paying about $2500 for a similar valued house...  I'd be paying 8.9% state income tax and a 1.1% city income tax.  Even though they claim up there it isn't so bad because federal taxes are deducted from that, unlike federal income tax there are very few deductions on state income tax up there...  So between my wife and I we'd be paying over $10k in state and city income tax up there.  So $12500 vs. $4500...  property tax doesn't seem so bad...  Oh...  they also like to talk about how "low" their sales tax is...  but it is 7% where my parents live...  and 8.25% here...  the 1.25% difference even if we were paying sales tax on 2/3 of our gross income it would only be around $1250 a year...  so realistically if I was to move up there it would be like taking a $5500 pay cut...  But it is worse than that...  typically techie jobs pay about 40% less up there...  So I'd be paying a little less income tax up there than my previous math...  But that would be kind of a pyrrhic victory given I'd be making a lot less...  And sure, a few things like auto and home insurance is cheaper up there...  but again, not enough to narrow the income gap much.

Just in case it wasn't clear--property taxes are based on the appraised worth of your property, not the size. (Except so far as size contributes to appraised worth.)

You never really own your home.

V

or all your paycheck if the start what the Democrats want, a State Income Tax..a mere 1%..thats all..it's what Wilson and his crew stated
with the Feds...a mere 1% and only on the "very rich" , You know..those with jobs..

Sure nobody likes property taxes. But how do you intend to fund local government? Fire, city, drainage, school, hospitals all cost money to operate. And furthermore property taxes only make up the deficit of the yearly budget for a entity minus all other incomes.

So your choices are income or VAT taxes that are now in control by the politicians in Austin instead of locals

So, why do we need a hospital district?  A hospital should be a private for profit company.  Government should never be in the business of charity with the taxpayer's money.  

I think that last sentence might be sig line material.

Well then organize your county to abolish the emergency district.

As mentioned, property taxes are based on what the local tax appraisers "think" your land and improvements are worth.

I say think, but most counties have a system.
In Bandera County, they decide what your land is worth (per acre)

This gets a little weird, because my next door neighbors land is appraised higher per acre than mine. Since it's higher, I have not asked any questions.

Then an appraiser comes around every so often to look to see what we have done to the property.
My county does not require building permits, so the only way they know about improvements is coming out to see,
although I expect these days they also use Google maps, I know some of my friends do.

Each structure is measured and they figure XX amount per SF of dwelling, XX amount per SF of deck, XX amount per SF for outbuildings.
The price varies by construction and its finished or just stud walls.

This brings me to the most irritating topic. - public information and my privacy.

With Google maps, you can pretty much see what buildings are on anyone's property, even drop to ground level and it's like you are standing at the front of their property.

Then another gem I have found since becoming a landowner......

Tax records are public - at least in all the Texas counties I have looked at.

Which means you are free to look up how much the current owners of your prospective purchase are paying.
You can also look up friends, family and your neighbors properties if you want to be overly nosy.

For example,
for Harris County, you can Google "harris county tax records" and the first return is "Property Tax Search & Payments - Harris County Tax Office"
http://www.hctax.net/Property/PropertyTax

Then you just need to know the name of the person that owns the property or the address.
You can even just type in a last name and look at everyone.


ETA:
property taxes are my biggest concern as I approach retirement.
It looks to be our biggest expense category.

I use www.taxnetusa.com to look up property taxes.  It gives you exact amounts, so it takes the estimation game out.

Just sign up for a free account and search away.

Why don't you go down to your local CAD and ask to have the valuation process explained to you. Ask them how raw land, buildings, at value, commerical value, and minerals are valued. Maybe then you could get a better handle on your biggest expense entering retirement as well as get the answers to your questions. It makes a lot more sense then addressing your issues with a Internet chat board.

If this post was directed at me, I don't really see that I asked any questions as I have already researched the appraisal process.
As for the OP, I think he asked a pretty reasonable question.

I added the part about the expense of property taxes, on the idea that it's true that you never really own your home or property
and I have been a little surprised in the past by people who do not know how much they pay in property taxes, simply because their taxes are included in their monthly mortgage payments.

Since our properties are paid for, the wife and I have to budget money to a "Property Tax" account each payday.
and yea, its our biggest monthly expense.

I've always felt that way but in recent years I'm not so sure.  My property taxes go up regardless of my income, and will keep going up.  Even areas with cheaper property taxes may eventually go way up if the area around them gets built up.  Then there's the "never really owning your property" issue.

If we relied on just income taxes then at least your home is never as in jeopardy as it could be with property tax, and the amount you pay will go down with your income.  I have a brother who lives in Boise and they have both (which I don't really like) but overall it seems less than what we are paying.  My personal property tax is ridiculously high but I guess that's what I get for living where I am.

and that is exactly one of the arguments used by the politicians that want a State income tax.

The problem is, property taxes DO NOT necessarily go away with a state income tax - States with income taxes still have property taxes, just lower taxes

The Texas Constitution prevents the legislature from establishing an income tax unless it is approved by the voters.
So, once they overcome that hurdle, nothing stops them from raising property taxes in the future once they get their "income tax" or even re-establishing a property tax if they word the legislation to abolish property taxes to get people to sign-on to an income tax.

Sorry, as much as I dislike property taxes, I dislike politicians even more.

ETA: Not sure if you were here when the State Lottery got approved by the voters.... but at the time there was a big deal made about how passing the lottery would reduce our property taxes as the money would be used to fund the schools. (which is the biggest portion of my property taxes)
I don't think I ever saw any reduction.

I would never be in favor of an income tax in TX unless property taxes being permanently abolished was part of the deal.  As in an opposite deal as it is now, that voters would have to approve re-establishing a property tax.

Property taxes are paid to the municipality on which the property sits. Incomes taxes would go to the state which would then transfer them down to the municipalities. As you can imagine there would be some redistribution involved.

Want to lower your property taxes?  Vote for county, city & local school board members that aren't into abusive spending of others' money.

You must have a huge property tax bill or you eat like a bird...  my property taxes are about $375 a month, which is fairly high (Travis County, go figure)...  and that is less than what I spend on groceries every month (at least $100 a week for two people).

It will never happen.  There are a few states that have no income tax, but there are no states with no property taxes.  If the voters here allowed an income tax it would be on top of property taxes.  Property taxes might go down a little, but chances are they wouldn't stay down...  Many states that have income taxes also have fairly high property and sales taxes too.

One thing I don't understand though are people who think they aren't paying property taxes because they are renters...

They are... PLUS the landlord is usually marking the property taxes up like he does all his other expenses...

A lot of renters don't think they pay for maintenance, lawn keeping, etc...  either...  Again...  nothing comes free...

Property values are established by the CAD relative to market value for an area. It's a lot more complex than throwing darts at a wall. Property tax rates are established by the taxing entities. The taxes fund the entity's deficit of their budget after all their income is accounted for then evenly distributed across the area they serve. The entities are voted on by the public of the county, values are relative to the county, and a taxpayer gets 4 chances to dispute their value.The state audits each cad every two years to make sure their values are in line with what little sales information they get. Which is a different problem.

So when y'all abolish property taxes and go to state sales tax on top of federal, what will happen if you don't pay that bill? You don't think the state will fine and put you in a debtors prison and seize your property. You think that Houston,Austin, DFW, and San Antonio want to pay for rest of the state?

So finally we are at a VAT tax. Which is a flat tax on everything on top of the sales tax. I think that will hurt business and ruin Texas as a business friendly state.




So how do will fix it? Complaining you don't like it and it's broken is one thing, finding a workable solution is another.

I vote for a progressive tax for folks taller than 6 feet.



The ultimate goal of taxation is to get the other guy to pay.

Yea, our property taxes are high.
We put $450/mo into our tax account.
We usually spend less than that on food each month, at least at the moment.

but, OK, lets say it's about equal.
But for some reason, I worry more about the taxman than I do HEB.

County does not run sales or accept coupons.

My house is not paid for but since I put over 20% down I chose to maintain my own escrow account.  I have to put $575/mo into it for taxes.    Much of the reason that my property tax is so high is due to the water district.  I know some of the bigger homes in my neighborhood pay more than $12k/yr in property tax.  What is crazy though is my current house is only 2000sqft. but my previous home in SW Austin was 3100sqft and the taxes were the same.  I knew this when I bought it, did so to get out of Austin & Travis County and to have my kids go to better schools.