The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights in Texas – Do you know your rights as a taxpayer??
Did you know that you had rights as a property owner??
According to the Texas Comptroller, there are 12 basic RIGHTS that you are entitled to.
- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to equal and uniform taxation.
- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to ensure that your property is appraised uniformly with similar property in your county.
- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to have your property appraised according to generally accepted appraisal methods and techniques and other requirements of law.
- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to receive exemptions or other tax relief for which you qualify and apply timely.
- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to notice of property value increases, exemption changes and estimated tax amounts.
- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to inspect non-confidential information used to appraise your property.
- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to protest your property’s value and other appraisal matters to an appraisal review board composed of an impartial group of citizens in your community.
- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to appeal the appraisal review board’s decision to district court in the county where the property is located.
- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to fair treatment by the appraisal district, the appraisal review board and the tax assessor-collector.
- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to voice your opinions at open public meetings about proposed tax rates and to ask questions of the governing body responsible for setting tax rates.
- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to petition a local government to call an election to limit a tax increase in certain circumstances.
- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to receive a free copy of the pamphlet entitled Property Taxpayer Remedies published by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts prior to your protest before the appraisal review board.
IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO PROTEST AND GET A FAIR VALUATION! Exercise your RIGHTS by protesting each and every year!
To find out if you are being over-assessed, go to the FREE Texas Fairness Checker at CutMyTaxes.com. You will quickly find out if you are over-assessed and view the results.
The ARB hearings are a joke!
Sure, they DID lower our valuations, and therefore our taxes due, or so we thought.
We received notifications via certified mail after being told at the hearings that we’d receive a formal notice in the mail documenting their findings.
The notices indicated that the values had been reduced, but we need to pay hundreds of dollars to the State Comptroller’s Office by July 31, 2018 to make these valuations “binding”.
I thought they WERE binding.
We went through the so-called due-process to reduce our taxes to the more realistic valuation, and now we’re being asked to pay the amount we WOULD HAVE saved in tax to the Comptroller’s office now, instead of to our County Appraisal District – and months earlier than the taxes would actually be due!
On top of all this, the notices we received were sent via certified mail at the expense of all the OTHER taxpayers! My three notices cost nearly $15 and is tantamount to wasting the assets they are charged with protecting!
The entire process makes NO SENSE. It smacks of being just another way to TAX us as it deprives us of the very due process we are given under the law.
Something needs to be done about this! This is double taxation and it’s wrong!
This is going to be a hardship on all Texas Citizens, and the net result is that taxpayers are going to simply give up and pay.
I work for the State and can’t come up with over $1500 by the 31st because we’re paid on the FIRST of the month, so the time and effort spent on the hearing process was a complete waste of time!
I own three properties, so do the math.
The ARB Hearings are a waste of time if they are going to force us to pay to make the results of the hearings binding!
It’s also WRONG to allow this deception and collusion between the State and Local governments and their so-called leadership to continue. The Appraisal Districts and the ARB’s all know EXACTLY what they’re doing and why.
It’s why people laugh at the saying: “We’re from the Government and we’re here to help.” Because they’re NOT helping until you make them do the right thing!
Please write Governor Abbott and demand him to make this right!
Thank you,
Sandra Kurtzman
Wow Sandy! Thank you for sharing that experience. We are so sorry you went through all of that! Governor Abbott definitely needs to be contacted by anyone who feels there is injustice (which should be every homeowner to be honest!).