Providing Information about Property Tax Loans.

You have an undeniable right to uniform appraisal of your property. In other words, your property cannot be valued at a significantly higher rate than a similar property. Additionally, the appraisal of your property should never exceed market value.

If your house is appraised higher than you could sell your house for under normal circumstances (neither buyer nor seller is in a rush or in an extreme situation), then you can protest your property tax rate and get it lowered.

During a protest, the appraisal district must provide evidence that your property was appraised equally. If they can’t, then you win the protest, even if the appraisal district’s value of your property was correct.

For example, let’s say you protest your property taxes, believing your house is worth $90,000 when the appraisers said it was worth $100,000. Even if evidence shows that your house really is worth $100,000, your property must be taxed at a value of $90,000 if the appraisers can’t prove that they used appraisal methods that were equal and uniform.

Equal and uniform appraisal is that important.

The website for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts gives another example of the ways you can lower your property taxes if there has been violations of your right to uniform appraisal:

As an example, suppose that both unequal and excessive appraisal protests are brought on the same property. The issues must be determined separately at the protest hearing. The property is appraised at $105,000, and evidence indicates that the market value is $100,000. The ARB should lower the market value to $100,000 because the appraisal is excessive. Next, the unequal appraisal protest must be considered. If the appraisal district’s evidence is not more convincing than the property owner’s evidence and the property owner’s evidence shows that the median level of appraisal is 0.85, the value should be reduced to $85,000. The ARB order should reflect the unequal appraisal protest determination, in addition to the appraised or market value determination.

If your property is not appraised in a uniform manner, protest it now.