I 'm looking at a you tube post on how local and state govt nationwide and especially in Texas have been caught committing fraud on homeowners by increasing property evaluations and thus property taxes dramatically for years. Apparently they are doing this deliberately. If you're like me, your property values are way up and thus property taxes are way up.

You might want to take a look at this.

Look for Rebel Capitalist site and the headline Bombshell report reveals Government conspiracy to defraud homeowners.

Back in 1997, I purchased an apartment building that the owners fell behind on their mortgage and the bank finally foreclosed after not being paid for 2 years. This started in 1993. Then in 1995 they had a foreclosure auction and no on bid on it. The bank couldn't give it away.

At one time, if the property was in good shape, it would be worth $750,000. But at the foreclosure auction they were asking for the appraised amount $250,000. No takers.

Finally I purchased it for $200,000 cash. The Los Angeles County Assessor sent me a bill saying the value was $700,000 and the county was owed $20,000 in back property tax.

Just had a turnover with a 18 year tenant.

Just did the normal things. But did also install new kitchen cabinets.

6 weeks after posting on zillow. The city sends a notice the appraisal has gone up 150%.

According to them. They now go thru zillow ads looking for places that have had a major rehab.

And they said, the main thing they notice is the first picture of a place. They said mine looked like it had been upgraded.

The first pic just had the front porch painted and a new stordoor.

Cant really fight this. Because the current market price would be about what the new appraisal would be.

I never had one go up more than 20% before this year.

Dont see any options. Other than going out of our way to make the front look bad. So with the first pic not looking good they dont look at the other pictures.

On the internet so it is fair game.

When I posted my last open I did not have the address in the ad. Later I changed it so people could drive by.

While I don't like the appraisals going up either, I only watched the first few minutes and their premise is flat wrong. They stated in the video that the tax appraisers are raising valuations in an effort to generate more taxes. IE: higher property values creates more taxes. But in fact, in the state of Texas (and every other state I've ever lived in) that is simply not the case. Here's the steps.

Step 1: Tax appraiser sets values.

Step 2: Various taxing entities (schools, city, county, hospitals, etc) set budget for coming year.

Step 3: Appraisal district then determines the "tax rate" that will generate the taxes to meet the budgets based on the appraised values.

Inflating the tax rate will cause you to pay a higher percentage of the tax compared to your neighbors but it will not generate more taxes. Yes there may be some inconsistencies in valuations based on the skill of the appraiser but again that is a separate issue from generating more taxes.

NE, every single time we actually get a permit they send that info to the assessor's office and the value of the place goes up well more than it should.

Another reason we fight them every year and win. I think they are grabbing for the low hanging fruit. When you complain about it they fold and you start getting ready for the process next year.

I had a roof put on my storage place. Guy wasn't up there an hour and the county inspector shut him down.

Sometimes nosey neighbors are a pain.

I had to get a permit when working on my house because the county was in the process of condemning it. They already had pictures and a huge file on the place. They got the tax increase for sure.

I make up for it with other jobs tho. At least my area has not made it where a permit was needed for a water heater swap or other silly things like that. They talked about making you get a permit for new windows that were the same size or smaller.

Years ago Indiana revamped the property taxes. They were capping OO at 1%, rentals at 2% and commercial at 3%.

Everybody was so happy for it. But before it went into effect they reassessed all the properties, at least in my county, so the cap really didn't do anything but keep the taxes at the same level.