"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." - Albert Einstein
Speaking of taxes, homeowners should be receiving their county property appraisals now (we got ours the other day). If you feel your home valuation is too high, here are some tips for Protesting Your Tax Appraisal. Or, you can simply call one of the many tax protest companies and have them handle the protest for you. They only charge if they are able to save you on your tax bill and even then, their fee is a portion of what they save you on your property tax bill. If they don't save you any money, you don't pay. I used Texas ProTax last year for the 1st time for my rental properties and was very pleased with the process and professionalism.
Even as a Realtor with access to all the data needed to protest my taxes, I felt that my time is best spent helping my clients vs. dealing with all that is required to save some tax money. Another company you can use is O'Connor Tax Reduction. Also, don’t forget that homesteaded properties can go up a maximum of 10% per year (+ other added benefits), so make sure your home is homesteaded if it is your primary residence. Speaking of taxes, a common complaint in Texas is our high property taxes. However, when you consider the fact that we don’t have a state personal income tax (1 of only 7 states) and look at the overall tax burden to citizens by state, Texas fares well at #33: 2019’s Tax Burden by State.