Texas Cities Are Losing Billions in Property Taxes
By: RNS
Updated: January 18, 2010
(Dallas) -- The "Dallas Morning News" says in its Sunday edition that Texas cities will forfeit billions of dollars from their property tax rolls this year because of property tax caps for senior citizens approved by voters in 2003.
The paper says the losses will almost certainly grow sharply in the future as property values climb, and aging baby boomers become eligible.
The State Comptroller says 244 cities have adopted the municipal tax caps since 2004.
According to the newspaper, the problem is neither the state nor local appraisal districts keep data about the losses, so determining exactly how much taxable value has been wiped off the books is difficult, although the report says it clearly reaches into the billions of dollars.
