It's official. Harris County residents have just been given an 8% property tax increase.
Just when you thought the Biden-Harris inflation nightmare couldn't get any worse, the Democrats on Harris County Commissioners Court voted 4-1 to boost property taxes for homeowners.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey, the lone Republican, was the lone dissent.
"It is a total disregard for what people are going through right now" Ramsey told KTRH, "We did not have to do the full 8%." But they did. A plan that has been in motion for years, when Hidalgo supported the redistricting in 2021 to eliminate the other Republican seat. With a 4-1 super majority that Hidalgo and the Dems enjoy now, they can ram through anything. And they're doing it right before our eyes.
Sadly, this is a huge gut-punch to all of the work that has been by State Senator Paul Bettencourt, to lower property taxes.
"This is a double digit tax increase" Bettencourt said, "My office calculates it at being $257 dollars per average home in Harris County, so it's a big one."
As we noted last week here on KTRH, normally anything above a 3.5% increase must be approved by the voters. But the local Democrats are using a loophole that allows the County to bypass the people when there is an emergency, which we had with Hurricane Beryl.
"The problem is, you have a leftist progressive majority Harris County Court" Bettencourt told KTRH, "They have never met a tax increase that they're not going to like, and try to put on the taxpayers. And this one is the largest tax increase that you can have in the county."
Meanwhile, the city of Houston is also preparing for it's own tax hike late next month.