Cameron County commissioners support tax code change for home buyers
Cameron County commissioners on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve a resolution supporting state legislation to help home buyers take advantage of the state’s homestead exemption law, which would mean significantly lower property tax bills for more homeowners across the Texas.
Tony Yzaguirre, county tax assessor/collector, is pushing the idea of a legislative change to the state tax code that would make it mandatory for home buyers to be given the opportunity to apply for the homestead exemption at some point during the buying process. No such requirement currently exists, though it’s especially important since the state raised the exemption from $40,000 to $100,000 last year, Yzaguirre told the commissioners court.
Homestead exemptions are available primarily for principal residences owned by individual homeowners, not commercial entities or partnerships, though exemptions also exist for disabled veterans, residents 65 or older, and people with disabilities. Yzaguirre said his research showed that the majority of home buyers failing to apply for homestead exemption are first-time home buyers with a mortgage.
His research showed that about 8,000 home owners with mortgages in Cameron County never applied for the exemption, he said. The number was 4,000 for Jim Wells County, 4,000 for Waller County and a whopping 98,000 homeowners in Travis County who were missing out, Yzaguirre said.
“You multiply that by 254 counties, that’s over 7 million homeowners in the state of Texas that don’t have or never applied for homestead exemption,” he told the commission.
Yzaguirre said he came up with the idea of changing the tax code to get more homeowners signed up after meeting with Board of Realtor presidents around the county. State Sen. Morgan LaMantia and state Rep. Erin Gamez threw their support behind it after Yzaguirre took it to them, he said.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Sofia Benavides recognized Yzaguirre and his office for being “instrumental in pushing this through,” adding that LaMantia has expressed her intention to bring up the relevant legislation during the next legislative session.
“Really it’s something that we as homeowners and buyers should be made aware of, but a lot of people don’t know, and if it’s not brought to their attention they lose out on an exemption,” she said.
“I think this is a good change, a fair change to the tax code,” Yzaguirre said.
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