Galveston County Property Taxes
How to deal with the necessary evil of property taxes in Galveston County Texas: A how to research property taxes guide.

In today’s day and age information is the key resource in any business transaction. Make no mistake about it, buying a home, Condo or other real estate is in fact the most important business deal many people will ever face. There is good news however: never before in history has the average citizen had the power of the internet search engines to enable them to acquire piles of information on the wanted property, its developer, location and value. This article will deal with property taxes. 

As many of you already know Texas has no income taxes and the state’s primary source of income is sales and property taxes, I will attempt in layman’s terms to show you how to find out the exact total tax rate for a specific property you are interested in. 

Generally Texas tax rates are expressed in dollar amounts per thousand dollars of appraised value. For example if I told you your total tax rate for your property is $1.50 that would be a dollar fifty for each thousand dollars of appraised value. If your property appraised for $100,000 your property taxes would be ($1.50) X ($100,000) =$1500 per year then divide by 12 months in a year would equal $125.00 a month. 

Heck that’s simple you might say and it is. However, in Texas there are many taxing units that make it difficult to determine the exact dollar amount of the tax rate on a specific piece of property. These units consist of cities, counties, special taxing units (fire, ambulance, police, and community colleges) and school districts. So the location of a piece of property within these districts determines the tax rate for that particular piece of property. 

Ok with that behind us lets by example look up a specific piece of property in Galveston County, Texas. You may not realize it but the amount paid by citizens as property tax is a matter of public record and available on the internet. Yes you can look up Uncle Bills house or that loudmouth down at the factory’s house and see what it appraises for and how much the taxes are and whether uncle bill has paid his taxes. Nosey bunches aren’t we? Let’s get started. 

	If you click on the link Galveston County Tax office you will see a page like the one on the left. Now looking at the page to the left, it is obvious we need either the property’s address or the owner's name both of which you can get from the realtor or if the realtor doesn’t want to give you the owners name at least you can get the address.  So whose house /property are we going to look up?   Might as well be some politician I suppose, so let me suggest Steve Leblanc, City Manager of Galveston.  So click on the tax link above to Galveston County Tax office and then on the page where it says search by select owners name type in Leblanc Steve and hit the search button.
	Now click on the account number (387700010065000) and you should see the results indicated by the left page:
	Now, we are almost at the end of our quest for the specific tax information.  One final click away.   Next, click on the “Exemptions and Tax Rate Information"
	Since what we are looking for is the total tax rate for this specific location we must add the different districts together (.494) + (.5686) + (.17) + (1.175) + (.03303) + (.0114) = $2.45203.   $2.45302 is the per thousand tax rate for the house in our example.

That's a very good resource. I've used it before for properties I've been interested in. For similar online sites elsewhere in the united States, do a Google search for "tax appraisle online xxxx" where xxxx is the county you want, or some variations on that. You'll more than likely be able to find what you are looking for, with some digging.

One thing you neglect to point out is this is just a reference to what the current owner is paying and does not reflect what your taxes would be if you purchased the property. You would benefit from the current owners tax status for the first year, but the following year your taxes most likely will go up. The reason for that is the taxing county will reappraise for a new owner, just to bring to current market value. Also, if there was a cap on the taxes, it will be removed and a new basis will start for you. Plus, any exemptions the previous owner had may not carry forward, except maybe homestead, unless this is a second home. In some cases, you could see the taxes skyrocket! Keep that in mind and don't assume you will be paying the same taxes you see listed!

What you say is true. If the Appraisal district changes the apprasised value after you purchase the property, you have different exemptions or the tax rates go up it would change the taxes on the property. I don't know of any online source that could predict the future appraisements or taxes. However a lot of banks realtors ect look at the appraised value as a starting point in an evaluation.

I only state that it will most likely change for a new owner and they may not be aware of that. A lot of people I talk to don't realize they will probably be re-appraised and will most likely face a tax hike. Across the country, it may not be the case with falling home values, but in Texas, you can pretty much bank on an increase!