Property taxes dropping for many Texans
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Central Texans are likely paying less in property tax than they did last year.
Driving the news: Property taxes are due at the end of January.
Why it matters: Trying to make good on their campaign promises, state GOP lawmakers have for years struggled to cut property taxes in ways that actually translate into savings — rather than merely slowing the taxes' growth rate.
Details: In November, Texas voters approved an $18 billion property tax cut package that was promoted by Republican officials.
What happened: We asked the tax assessor-collectors in Central Texas counties how that tax cut has translated into the property tax bills we're now paying.
By the numbers: Property owners in Travis County with only a homestead exemption — that is, a cut in appraised property value for owner-occupied homes — saw a reduction of nearly 7% from the average tax bill in 2022 ($9,908) to the average one in 2023 ($9,250).
- Property owners in Williamson County with a homestead exemption saw a 7.4% reduction from the average bill in 2022 ($8,039) to the average one in 2023 ($7,448)
Meanwhile: The average tax bill in Travis County for a property owner with a disability or a senior exemption went down by 19%, from $7,005 in 2022 to $5,654 in 2023.
- Similarly, Williamson County saw a drop of $1,354 in the average tax bill for property owners with those exemptions.
- Of note: Hays County officials were not able to compile tax information by Axios' deadline.
Yes, but: You might not see vast changes to your monthly escrow payments because insurance rates are rising, per the Insurance Council of Texas.