Hey y'all, and welcome to WTF? Appraisals. Before we dive into the purpose of this site, let's just take a quick look at some data.

This is the Case-Schiller home price index for Dallas. Over the past 10 years, it's increased 123%, or around 11% each year. That means a house that cost $250,000 in 2014 would cost, on average, over $550,000 today. For comparison, between January 2000 and June 2007 - just before the collapse of the housing market - the index only increased by 26%.

This is a truly astronomical rate of appreciation.

If you were lucky enough to buy pre-2014, well, you're lucky... at least insofar as it's much more difficult to buy that first house these days. But although we could also talk your ear off about housing affordability, that's not what this blog is about.

No, this is a blog about the Texas property tax system: why everyone hates it, what the Texas Legislature has done to try to "fix" it, and why those "solutions" aren't working.

Time for some real talk

A property (or ad valorem) tax is quite literally a tax on property - or wealth, or assets, whatever helps you understand more easily. When the value of an asset goes up, the tax you pay goes up with it, all things being equal. When your home is appreciating 11% a year, you should expect to see your property tax bill go up as well. That's not only how the system is designed, it's just how math works.

Over the past several legislative sessions, the Texas Legislature has passed a slate of bills aimed at sidestepping this basic arithmetic. In the process, they've opened up a slew of unintended consequences, as one tends to do when fighting against the fundamental laws of additions and subtractions. Layer these new issues on top of a bunch of pre-existing conditions, and we're left with a big, ugly mess that few people understand (including those in Austin who vote on the rules every other year).

And if you don't understand it, how can you fix it?

WTF is WTF? Appraisals then?

This blog is our attempt to highlight these problems for the average person. If you're ever wondered why your tax bill keeps going up even though city and school district revenues are "capped"; if you work in local government and need help explaining why the system sucks to your residents and taxpayers; or if you make the rules and should really know how the heck this is all playing out in the real world... we're here for you!

Our team has spent the past 15+ years working in and around these numbers. We've seen a lot in that time, and we've helped a lot of people have a better understanding of how the system works. So follow along, bookmark the site, use our RSS feed, or follow us on Twitter (sorry, we won't call it X) or LinkedIn. We'll see you real soon.