I did a new spreadsheet with what happens to your City of Austin tax rate with the two homestead exemptions currently on the table if your home continues to increase in value at 10%/year (as mine is currently doing). Note that your City of Austin taxes are only about 1/5 of your tax rate, so that’s why the numbers below may look low to you.
Currently Steve Adler is proposing a full 20% exemption at a cost of over $36,000,000 to taxpayers. That’s the entire City of Austin library budget to put things in perspective.
Kathy Tovo is proposing a flat rate $5,000 (it can only be $5,000 due to the trick being used to get the flat rate which are technically not allowed in Texas).
I have to say I don’t see much value in punching a hole in the budget for either of these cuts. What do you think?
| Year | Taxable Value | Tax with Current Rate | Tax with 20% Homestead Exemption | Tax with $5000 Homestead Exemption |
| 2013 | $168,385.00 | $846.47 | $677.18 | $821.34 |
| 2014 | $185,223.50 | $931.12 | $744.89 | $905.98 |
| 2015 | $203,745.85 | $1,024.23 | $819.38 | $999.10 |
| 2016 | $224,120.44 | $1,126.65 | $901.32 | $1,101.52 |
| 2017 | $246,532.48 | $1,239.32 | $991.46 | $1,214.18 |
| 2018 | $271,185.73 | $1,363.25 | $1,090.60 | $1,338.12 |
| 2019 | $298,304.30 | $1,499.58 | $1,199.66 | $1,474.44 |
| 2020 | $328,134.73 | $1,649.53 | $1,319.63 | $1,624.40 |
| 2021 | $360,948.20 | $1,814.49 | $1,451.59 | $1,789.35 |
| 2022 | $397,043.02 | $1,995.94 | $1,596.75 | $1,970.80 |
| 2023 | $436,747.32 | $2,195.53 | $1,756.42 | $2,170.39 |
| 2024 | $480,422.06 | $2,415.08 | $1,932.07 | $2,389.95 |
| 2025 | $528,464.26 | $2,656.59 | $2,125.27 | $2,631.45 |
| 2026 | $581,310.69 | $2,922.25 | $2,337.80 | $2,897.11 |
| 2027 | $639,441.76 | $3,214.47 | $2,571.58 | $3,189.34 |
| 2028 | $703,385.93 | $3,535.92 | $2,828.74 | $3,510.79 |
| 2029 | $773,724.53 | $3,889.51 | $3,111.61 | $3,864.38 |
| 2030 | $851,096.98 | $4,278.46 | $3,422.77 | $4,253.33 |
| 2031 | $936,206.68 | $4,706.31 | $3,765.05 | $4,681.18 |
| 2032 | $1,029,827.34 | $5,176.94 | $4,141.55 | $5,151.81 |