I want to encourage everyone in Texas to take the time to vote on the state constitutional amendments for the upcoming Nov. 3rd election.  Of particular interest, there are several propositions that are related to property taxes and eminent domain (government’s power to take private property for public use).

Proposition 11 provides for more protection against the government power to take private property for public use especially if the primary purpose is for economic development or enhancement of tax revenues.

Propositions 2, 3, and 5 are designed to reform the current methods for accessing value for property taxes.  If you haven’t had to deal with high property taxes due to outrageous tax assessments, then hopefully you won’t have to in the future either.  For those of you that have gone through the appeal process, it can be time consuming, frustrating, and a hassle.  I personally have appealed and lowered my taxes for the last five years because the accessed value was grossly out of proportion as compared to the market value.  And that was for two different homes in two different cities during the last five years (same county though).

For more info, refer to the Texas Legislative Council web site: http://www.tlc.state.tx.us/pubsconamend/pubsconamend.html

For a detailed explanation of each amendment, refer to this focus report from the House Research Organization: http://www.hro.house.state.tx.us/focus/amend81.pdf