Comptroller Releases 2018-19 Summary Report
In tax year 2019, Texas cities, counties, school districts, and special purpose districts levied more than $67 billion in property taxes – 5.51 percent more in 2019 than in 2018, according to the Biennial Property Tax Report.
Unlike other taxing units, which can also collect sales taxes and fees, school districts’ only source of tax revenue is the property tax. In 2019, the state’s 1,016 school districts levied more than $36 billion in property taxes, or approximately 53.87 percent of all property taxes levied by local taxing units in the state, according to the report.
Cities collected the second-largest share of property tax in 2019 – more than $11.1 billion, an increase of more than 7 percent from the 2018 levy. Counties followed closely behind with a property tax levy of $11 billion, which is 9.6 percent more than in 2018.
Exhibit 1 shows that local property tax remains the largest tax assessed in Texas. Property taxes levied by taxing units statewide exceeded $63 billion in 2018 and $67 billion in2019.
The next largest tax revenue source in Texas is the sales tax, which is imposed by both the state government and local taxing units. As demonstrated in Exhibit 2, local taxing units consistently collect about 57 percent of all taxes in the state, while state government collects slightly less than 43 percent.
For information about levy growth for cities, counties, school districts, and special purpose districts, see Appendix 6.
The Tax Code directs the Comptroller’s office to publish a biennial report of the appraised and taxable values of properties by category and the tax rates of counties, cities, special districts, and school districts for a two-year period. This report provides a single point of reference for appraised values, taxable values, and tax levies and rates of Texas taxing units.
Senate Bill 2, 86th Legislature, Regular Session, added special districts to the biennial report starting with tax year 2020; while not required for the two tax years covered by this report, the comptroller’s office includes special district data. The complete market and taxable values and tax rates for all counties, cities, special districts, and school districts is available on the Office of the Comptroller’s Property Tax Survey Data and Reports webpage, https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/rates/index.php.
To view the biennial report in full, go to https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/docs/96-1728.pdf.