Proposition 3 – Home Appraisal Value Amendment

TEXAS – Proposition 3 – HJR 40

Brief background information: (provided by the Texas Legislative Council)

Currently, Subsection (i) of Section 1, Article VIII of the Texas Constitution limits the maximum average annual percentage increase for a residence homestead for tax purposes to 10 percent of the property’s previous appraised value for each tax year since the last appraisal. The intent of the original 1997 legislation was to cap increases at 10% annually. In practice, a homeowner who has not had a new appraisal in several years could end up with a 20% to 30% increase in assessed value and a bigger tax bill.

Pro and Con – information provided by Jacci Howard Bear of About.com

Why Vote For Prop 3 If approved, this amendment would insure that the appraised value of a residence homestead for property tax purposes won’t increase by more than 10 percent in any year no matter how long it has been since the last appraisal.

Homeowners who don’t have annual appraisals avoid large, unexpected increases in appraisal values and taxes.

Why Vote Against Prop 3Most large appraisal districts experiencing rapid increases in property values already do annual appraisals making the amendment mostly unnecessary. In smaller appraisal districts where there aren’t already annual appraisals, typical property values aren’t increasing rapidly enough for property owners to need the protection afforded by this amendment.

Some opponents believe that taxing authorities would simply start appraising properties more frequently and increasing taxes each time by the 10% maximum.

The wording or a greater percentage found in the amendment “leaves the amount of the tax increase open to a possibly significant increase.” (Heather Carr, About.com Guide to Dallas, TX)

— Edited for the web by Miguel Martinez