Gov Greg Abbott during a news conference in March of last year | gov.texas.gov/
Gov Greg Abbott during a news conference in March of last year | gov.texas.gov/
With the Nov. 8 midterm election fast approaching, high property tax rates across the state have remained a high-priority issue in the gubernatorial race.
This comes as both candidates for governor, Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott and Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke, have promised action on this issue to lower the financial burden on Texas homeowners. In 12 of Texas' most populated counties, the median effective property tax rate is higher than the statewide figure.
“Texas is sitting on a $27 Billion SURPLUS because of our record-setting revenue. We will use much of it to deliver the largest property tax cut in Texas history,” Abbott wrote in an Oct. 18 tweet.
TaxRates.org reports Hidalgo County’s median effective residential property tax rate in 2022 is 1.92%. This figure measures the percent of a home's taxable value that is collected by taxing authorities, meaning any tax exemptions on the property are factored into the rate.
TaxRates.org measures the median effective rate for all of Texas to be 1.81%. Based on these figures, Hidalgo County residents have a property tax burden 6% higher than the statewide average.
Two states often compared to Texas, California and Florida, have lower effective property tax rates than the Lone Star State at 0.74% and 0.97% respectively, TaxRates reports. Hidalgo County residents have a property tax burden 2.59 times higher than Californians and 1.98 times higher than Floridians.
According to World Population Review, about 64% of Texans live in the 12 most populous of Texas' 254 counties. Hidalgo County has a population of 889,983, which accounts for 2.97% of the state's residents. The county has seen a 14.87% increase in its population since 2010.
In a September debate, Abbott and O'Rourke both identified high property tax rates as an issue worthy of action. While Abbott promised to use state budget revenues to buy down property tax burdens for homeowners, O'Rourke pointed to increasing the tax burden on commercial properties, adding new revenue streams such as legal marijuana, and expanding Medicaid.
“Greg Abbott is blocking $10 billion a year of our own tax dollars from coming back to Texas,” O’Rourke wrote in an Oct. 12 tweet. “I will expand Medicaid so we help more people see a doctor, create 300,000 jobs a year, keep hospitals open, and reduce our property taxes.”
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