Finally some good news for Harris County Republicans.
As I stated here, Texas law forces county commissions to have a 4 members present to vote to raise taxes. Thank you to everyone who emailed, called or spoke personally to Commissioners Radack and Cagle in support of their move. Maybe Republicans in Harris County can get their mojo back.
UPDATE with statement from HRBC:
“HRBC applauds the actions of County Commissioners Steve Radack and R. Jack Cagle for listening and saving Harris County taxpayers over $185 million of unnecessary tax increases – by denying Commissioners Court the required quorum to increase taxes. This tax increase was not necessary to fund county government core services and was certainly not approved of by the voters,” said Richard Rothfelder, HRBC PAC Treasurer. “HRBC thought it was vitally important to educate taxpayers across the county about County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s misguided 12% property tax increase and communicate with the Commissioners Court by launching, https://yourharriscountytaxes.com/. Over the course of a short couple of weeks, this site took off on social media and was visited by thousands who sent messages to the County Judge and other Commissioners opposing the tax increase. We would like to thank the residents of Harris County for standing up and making their voices heard and opposing this tax rate increase.”
UPDATE with statement from Paul “Tax Man” Bettencourt:
Harris County Commissioners Cagle and Radack Save Taxpayers Around $185 Million
Lack of quorum prevents a “Tax To The Max” on Taxpayers prior to public votes being mandated in 2020
Judge & Two Commissioners totally misinformed on SB 2, 3.5% voter approval rate and appraisal reforms
Houston, TX – Harris County Commissioners Cagle (R-Harris County) and Radack (R-Harris County) used a procedural move to block a quorum and prevent a proposed $200 million plus (or over 10% more) property tax increase on Harris County taxpayers. Rather than face an increase of $118.68, an over 11% increase, a county taxpayer with an average valued home at $177,690 will instead only see an estimated increase of $46 on their county property tax bills. State law requires that at least four of the five commissioners be present to vote on a property tax increase.
“I want to commend Commissioners Cagle and Radack for standing for taxpayers, preventing Harris County residents from being Taxed To The Max,” said Senator Bettencourt (R-Houston). “Today’s action means that Harris County must adopt the effective tax rate of .6117 which is lower than last year’s rate of .62998.”
According to Tax Code 26.05(c), if a taxing unit does not adopt a tax rate before the required date, the tax rate for that unit will be set at the lower of the effective rate or the tax rate adopted by the taxing unit for the preceding tax year. The section requires the governing body to ratify the applicable tax rate before the fifth day after the establishment of the tax rate.
“It is preposterous to say that Senate Bill 2 did not include appraisal reforms, here are some of them listed below,” added Senator Bettencourt.
Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo (D-Harris County) also repeatedly made inaccurate statements about the impact of Senate Bill 2 on county revenues. Mischaracterizing the legislation as a “cap” that would not allow the county to keep up with growth, she did not mention that Senate Bill 2 simply creates a trigger which would require a public vote in a November election to exceed. Additionally, the legislation exempts new growth and first time homesteads from the 3.5% rollback calculation, now called the “voter approval tax rate” in the future.
“Going forward, Harris County taxpayers will be able to vote on these type of tax increase proposals due to the bipartisan passage of Senate Bill 2,” added Senator Bettencourt. “The bottom line is what I have been saying for 20+ years that as appraised values go up, property tax rates should come down.”
Finally! I feared the worst for a bit…
Appreciate their stance! Now that is some news we are happy to hear!
THANK YOU!!!!
Statesmen
This is what conservative leadership looks like!
Thank goodness
Many thanks to Cagle and Radack for taking a stand for taxpayers.
Thank God for Republicans who believe in limiting government and actually act on what they believe
So, how many of you here condemned the Democrats for running away from the Legislature in 2003? Cagle and Radack are cowards, preventing Commissioners Court from doing business. I would tell them that to their face, too. Cowards, craven cowards. Just like I called Rodney Ellis, my state Senator at the time, and Garnet Coleman, my State Representative, cowards for running away in 2003. The job of elected representatives is to meet when their body is in session. If they aren’t going to win a vote, they should make impassioned speeches, cajole, and try to convince the other side that the proposal is wrong. If they lose, lose gracefully.
The Dems could have raised taxes as much as they wanted and simply allowed the citizens to vote on it. Raising it to the limit under the required vote threshold is the most cowardly act.
After all the crap we’ve seen lately, let’s just be honest with each other….it’s all about winning and losing. It’s purely partisan, it’s just team sports. Do you want the Astros to win? Do you care if a bad call allows them to win?
Everybody’s using dirty tricks, there is no more fair play, statesmanship, etc. There’s just winning and losing. In this case, the taxpayers won as a side benefit to this Republican dirty trick..
The only question is, how will Harris County voters view this? We’ll see in the next election. Do they want the tax raising team, or the team that kept their taxes fro being raise?.
The commissioners are to be commended for having the courage to thwart this outrageous democrat tax grab.
I don’t know who Ross is, but he is free to remit to the Harris County the taxes he would have paid under the proposed tax increase rather than the tax now due at the lower effective tax rate. And, while he is at it he should commit to paying the increased amount for all future years, as all taxpayers would have been required to do had the tax increase passed.
The tax increase was totally unnecessary; the county reported $1.3 billion in Unencumbered Fund Balance in its original published notice. That’s 68% of the total of 2018 property tax collections of $1.9 billion, way over what is considered a needed reserve. And, the vast majority of the tax increase was destined to increase the undedicated reserve, with very little more for flood control.
Don, why don’t you believe in democracy? Don’t you think 3 of 5 elected officials ought to be able to make policy? Or do you think that only applies to elected officials you agree with?
I don’t like the outcome of the election and want to overturn it by impeaching Lina Hidalgo. She clearly is a puppet of Dallas. We must impeach!
Good Job to Cagle and Radack.
They used the law to block a quorum and thus blocked the tax increase.
The Republican Party will be thanking them for years to come.
My mom passed away last November. Her house that I live in is worth $500,000 and HCAD says now $470,000 so think how much taxes I saved from these 2 men in doing what they done.
I only have my mom’s inheritance ( which I have to share with my brother) as my income. I have never in my life made more than $20,000 in any year. At 2.5% taxes for $500,000 that is $12,500 so what else do I have to live off of? More than 50% of my income will be going to property taxes. Last year ( 2018) my income was Zero and it was like that since 2013. This year everything I make from my inheritance will go to property taxes. Maybe next year I can get it to less than 50% if my inheritance investments work out. Then I can still live in the house my mom left for me and not be on the street trying to get public housing, which I will not qualify for because I got too much assets from my inheritance. Oh and if there was Federal Inheritance taxes at the rate from 30 years ago…..I would be on public assistance today as opposed to living in the house my mom bought 15 years ago that I lived in for her last 15 years of her life.
Democrats care about poor people? No they do not. Not this poor man.
Thank you Cagle, thank you Radack. And you are more than welcome to use my story on why taxes should not be raised. And how messed up the Democrats are in public policy.
$20,000 is not enough to sustain a home worth a half million dollars so your best option is to sell the house and buy something you can afford. I’m sorry for your loss if any of this really happened but sensible people understand the realities of home ownership, it sounds like you need to either get a better job or use the money from selling the house to get some training/education to upgrade your worth to employers.
LOL! Republicans save Harris County taxpayers from themselves!
Neither Cagle nor Raddick gained one single vote with their actions yesterday. I guess they decided one of them was going to get redisricted out of a seat (a certainty now) anyway. I suppose the plan is for the districted out Commissioner to run for County Judge in 2022. Although I suspect Commissioners Court will find enough ‘national politics’ items on the agenda to make that very challenging.
If Trump loses in 2020, 2022 probably becomes a bounce year for Republicans. But in 2022 to win Countywide, theyll probably need Trump to lose in 20, a scandal involving Hidalgo, and erosion of up to a quarter of people who voted for Elizabeth Warren in Harris County to actually win countywide. Anything is possible, but that tax staying off the books for more than 3 years is unlikely. A temporary win for the GOP. But the end of any cooperation from the Dems.
This just makes the situation crystal clear for everyone.
Tom in Lazybrook: You are so wrong about Raddick (actually Radack) and Cagle not gaining a single vote by yesterday’s action to kill the outrageous democrat tax grab. Property taxes rising at a multiple of five times the inflation rate is important to many voters. But, just as important as gaining votes is that they kept the votes of supporters they already had. What happens next is to be seen. About losing cooperation with the democrats, allowing the tax increase to go through would have changed nothing. The democrats will never cooperate.
The house is 1,400 sq feet and 95 years old. The value is so high because of the land. The lot is only 4,600 sq feet. I can go to Home Depot, Lowes and fix issues in the house but the taxes are going to eat me up.
Oh the address is 1251 W Gray and you can go on Google and look at the place from the outside. Why is the land value so high? Location, location, location. Zip code is 77019 which is….River Oaks ( 1400 sq ft home built in in 1925) and it is in Montrose along a very busy W Gray street. Thai Massage Parlors, drug dealers in the apartments nearby….But HCAD wants to value it $470,000 so really it is not that great.
If you’re living in 1,400 square feet, and your property is valued at $470K. Then there’s really a super simple solution. You can easily find 1,500 square foot homes in the Houston area, in decent neighborhoods, for $200K – $250K. Sell your property for $425,000, buy a new home for $225,000, take the leftover $200,000 and put it in the bank! Problem solved!
Or, or, or, he could vote for people who won’t tax him out of the home his mother left to him, and wanted him to have, and enjoy. It’s pathetic that people work all their lives to buy a house, and then lose it to taxes. Alexander is renting his mother’s home from the government, to think about it in simple terms, and now Lina and the boys are trying to tax him out of it.
Bill, there is no place in this country where anyone making $20k per year with a small inheritance can afford a $500k house.If the house was in the burbs, the taxes would be even higher, since HISD has the lowest rate in the area, and gives a generous homestead exemption. The taxes on that house were going to go up by a buynch in any case, as the over 65 exemptions and freeze went away at the death of the mother.
Now, if only there were a way to ensure that a large portion of the tax burden varied by your ability to pay, more folks wouldn’t be as negatively impacted by property taxes as they grow older. Hmmm, is there something that fits that description?
Now see, that’s the problem with Ross. I read his first paragraph and I found myself nodding in agreement. If you’re not making but $20K/year you don’t need a $500K house.
And then he goes and spoils it all with his “tax by your ability to pay”, socialist, drizzle.
Oh well, Ross will be Ross. Even when he’s right, he’s still wrong.
I must say that your attempt to lower the value of the property by placing a Beto campaign sign on the front yard was pretty inventive but I doubt it’ll work. Otherwise, despite your protestations on this GOP flavored website, that is a choice corner lot in a high demand area. Private sector companies value it even higher than HCAD, some suggesting it is worth well over $500,000. By your own admission the most you’ve ever made was $20,000 and you made $0 in 2018. I’d love to hear Danman’s or Mr. Daniel’s suggestions for how much you should pay and why the rest of us should subsidize your desire to live in the family home at the expense of the rest of us but he’s not very good with specifics.
The rate increase was blocked so you won’t have any additional taxes based on that but my belief still stands that the situation you describe is a function of 1) your low income, and 2) basing most taxes on property wealth. I prefer property taxes over income based taxes like most people here as it gives me the ability to vote with my feet. So if the neighborhood is as bad as you say, sell the land, move the house to a cheaper lot, and enjoy the lower taxes while living in your mother’s legacy home. The developer that buys your place will build some home that enhances the property as some of your neighbors have done, some of the nearby homes approaching a million dollars.
“just as important as gaining votes is that they kept the votes of supporters they already”
This action makes the base even more solid.
Base will be glad to give the “chaps” some money for reelection. How much is the maximum? The money they save me on the tax increase will go to their reelection campaign.
I started reading the comments and correctly assumed Ross would chime in with his oblique take. Got a twofer with PeterD bringing his love for more g’ment.
Good work Steve and Jack! DanMan approves.
Danman, in my response I mentioned nothing about government whatsoever. Mr. Shaskevich claimed that he made no money last year and otherwise made a peak amount of $20,000 in a year prior to that. Unless you have changed your tune and now seek to convert us all to income taxes as a means of paying for government services, I’d truly like to hear your solution to his dilemma. I can’t believe you’d endorse he not have to pay his share of things like the rest of us and even in his best year, twenty grand just doesn’t go far for all the things many of us enjoy like running water, electricity, food, and so on.