INTERIM. Commercial Property Appraisal Fights. Impact to Texas Tax Payers.

• Taxpayers pay for the legal fees of the appraisal districts defending its commercial appraisals.
• Taxpayers cover the revenue hit to the taxing jurisdictions when lower commercial appraisals reduce revenue.
• Sen. Kelly Hancock “speculated that Texas counties punish homeowners with inflated appraisals to offset “lost” commercial tax revenue.”
• What does this look like in big Texas counties?
  • Austin
    • ​413 lawsuits
    • $11.3 billion in values are being contested
    • Travis County Appraisal District boosted its legal budget by 20% to cover challenges
  • San Antonio
    • ​$19.4 billion in appraisal disputes in the last year
  • Texas wide
    • 4,000 appraisal challenges in the last year
    • reducing taxable values on average 7.5%

Watchdog.org | Commercial lawsuits blow back on Texas taxpayers