TTARA Tax Relief Calculator

As a result of the school finance and tax reforms in 2006, Texans enjoyed $7 billion in savings on their 2007 property tax bills. The Legislature rolled back school tax rates for maintenance and operations significantly, financing the rate cuts in part with revenue from restructuring the state franchise tax and increases in tobacco taxes.

A soon-to-be released analysis by the TTARA Research Foundation will offer greater insight into the property tax relief initiative. While the Legislature accomplished its goal in reducing school taxes, the tax reductions were not readily apparent for a number of reasons:

• Almost all school districts have exercised local authority to increase tax rates above the state-mandated one-third reduction (many with the approval of local voters),
• Local voters have approved additional debt service taxes in a number of districts to improve localschool facilities,
• City, county, and special district taxes have continued to increase, and
• Property values continue to rise.

The combination of these factors masked the effect of the school tax rate cuts when total tax bills were compared to those of prior years. Still, the simple fact remains that had the Legislature not acted, Texans would have paid $7 billion more in property taxes last year than they did.

Property tax relief was real and it was substantial, even though it may have not have been as clearly evident as lawmakers had hoped.

To make it easier for Texas property owners to see how their school district property taxes were in fact reduced as a result of the tax package, TTARA has prepared a property tax savings calculator. All you need to know is the name of the school district in which you own property, and the taxable value of that property in 2007. The calculator compares the 2007 school district taxes actually paid to the taxes that would have been paid had the Legislature not acted. The property tax savings calculator may be found by on the TTARA website.

TTARA Annual Meeting

The TTARA 2008 Annual Meeting will be held on October 21-22, 2008 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin. The room rate will be $235 per night. More information will be provided at a later date.