Austin Governments Make Affordability Worse

Austin-area progressives constantly bemoan the region’s affordability crisis—and then set about making matters worse through all manner of ways.

Case-in-point: The latest round of tax increases proposed and adopted by the very left-leaning local officials presiding over the city of Austin, Travis County, Central Health, and Austin ISD.

Let’s take them one at a time.

Last month, Austin city councilmembers approved a tax increase so large that it will require voter approval in the upcoming November election cycle. According to KUT News, “If voters approve the property tax increase, the average homeowner will see their taxes go up by approximately $300 next year.” Ouch! Of course, these higher taxes do not include the nearly $115 fee increase charged by the city for water, trash pickup, and other services.

For its part, Travis County officials have approved a tax rate that will “add an average of $200 to property owners’ bills,” which is the equivalent of an 11.6% increase in the tax on the average residence homestead. Normally, a tax increase of this magnitude would need to be approved by voters at a tax rate election, but the county claims that it is permitted to exceed the 3.5% revenue trigger without voter approval because of the recent floods. Oddly, not all the new taxes collected by the county will go toward cleanup though, but instead “[t]he $42 million in new tax dollars will be used to refill the county’s savings account and prepare for future natural disasters…”

Meanwhile, the Central Health hospital district is also moving forward with a tax hike. On Tuesday, the district was able to muscle through a tax rate that will “increase the average annual tax bill by $64, ” according to the Austin American-Statesman. This brings its total tax burden to $608.33 per year.

Lastly, there’s Austin ISD which, as we’ve previously discussed, is close to imposing a tax rate that will result in “a $53 tax hike this year, which comes on the heels of a monster $717 increase in the year prior.” Incredibly, the district continues to stuff its coffers full of Other People’s Money despite persistently “declining enrollment” and “underperformance.”

Based on these local decisions then, the average Austinite’s tax bill is likely to experience an increase of more than $600 this year.

If this level of tax increase takes root, then the average homeowner will see their total tax grow from its current $10,356 perch to an even higher level. Worse, Austinites will have missed out entirely on the Texas Legislature’s $10 billion tax cut, which is expected to provide the average Texas homeowner with an estimated $484 in annual savings. None of these savings are likely to make it to Austin-area homeowners.

So the next time an Austin-area politician laments our ongoing cost-of-living crisis, ask them whether they were on the side of taxpayers or tax-raisers during this latest budget season. Because chances are, they’re telling you one