Crony capitalism in action; Texas county jacks up property taxes on minorities to build McMansions

You gotta love when developers and corrupt government come together; their greed and injustice become so blatant that they can't hide it from the world.

In Texas, developers are using their bought-and-paid-for politicians to jack up property taxes on minority homeowners to such highs that people who have owned their land for generations can no longer afford to live there because of the onerous tax rates.

Texas County Takes Aim at Minorities' Land As Favor to Developers, Landowners Claim

A Texas county is trying to drive minorities from their land to make room for subdivisions by raising their taxes so high they can't afford to pay them, 28 landowners claim in court.

"Plaintiffs have observed that before the growth came to the Fulshear area, sometime before the year 2006 and prior, land owned by minorities valued by Fort Bend County Appraisal District was at $4,000-$4,500 per acre, while land owned by whites were around $20,000 per acre; growth hit and the value of minority's property jumped to $41,000 an acre while whites $22,000-$23,000 per acre," the complaint states.

"Through investigation, plaintiffs learned that all similarly situated property in the area of the county was not being evaluated equally. The plaintiffs further observed that the property assessed values of their raw land were much higher than similarly situated land owned by whites.

"Interestingly, plaintiffs have observed the building of subdivisions hit the Fulshear area in the early part of year 2007.

Courthouse News

It doesn't get much more blatant than that; a ten fold increase on minority property taxes while taxes on white's property barely go up a hair. :shk:

I hope these folks win their lawsuit and maybe this story will get the attention of some law enforcement authorities because corruption this obvious and blatant needs to be stomped out.

yep, this should not be happening to any American citizen. Absolutely disgusting, I'm searching up other articles on this now.

reply to post by FortAnthem


Although I don't like to see higher taxes imposed on anyone, the fulshear area is experiencing big growth. Property value is going up around there. The appraisal value given by fulshear county appraisal district can be legally protested and will more than likely go way down after that process. It's a simple process... my sister used to be a "protester" in Harris county right out of high school. These minorities might not know the process though, and end up stuck with their newly appraised values.

It's sadly a common tactic to move minority populations around.
The more people know the better so thanks for sharing.

This may be a side effect of Agenda 21, which is to raise real estate tax to a high enough amount that people cannot afford to live in single family homes. Of course the poorest people will be affected first.
It may be completely accidental that the most affected persons are those of minorities. Someone may be trying to play the race card to win a case....but they will have to prove that it was done as a racial thing.

reply to post by ThirdEyeofHorus


So Agenda 21 has been in effect for decades?
It's called Gentrification and has everything to do with Capitalism and Racism, not some paranoid delusion of Agenda 21.

Fort Bend County Appraisal District was at $4,000-$4,500 per acre, while land owned by whites were around $20,000 per acre

People seriously how could you miss that ?

Until the development "whites" were paying more $15k more the development occurred where property was cheaper as with all development, and with that development property taxes increased.

Then again I support the abolition of all property taxes.

reply to post by neo96


And in the same sentence...

growth hit and the value of minority's property jumped to $41,000 an acre while whites $22,000-$23,000 per acre," the complaint states.

From 4-4.5K to 41K.

reply to post by Kali74


So what?

Anyone have problems with that take it up with the local assessors office.

reply to post by neo96


Looks like they're doing one better and taking it to court. I get that you want to pretend this isn't gentrification though, just a bunch of whiners playing the race card, right?

reply to post by Kali74


SO whats it called when the whites in the county were footing the majority of property taxes and then some people cry "gentrification" when that was reversed, and that decision was not based on skin color.;

Really what part of this do some people not get?

Then again I support the abolition of all property taxes.

reply to post by FortAnthem


Hold on a minute! To play devil’s advocate here – a quote from the OP’s article:

The plaintiffs claim that since growth took off in the county, the appraised value of minorities' land has increased far more quickly than Anglos' land.

If the land was underdeveloped and appraised at $4,000 per acre, then development began (improvements), wouldn’t it stand to reason that the property value would greatly increase? Many people work to keep their values artificially low for tax purposes but it can’t be avoided when the area is developed. Also, there was likely some redistricting due to the influx of new residents, which can affect property taxes.

On that same note, the more affluent area was consistently 5 times more than the other area. There were no improvements there so why should it jump if everything is the same??

It's called business. Locally the minorities as you call them have run the area down . But when somebody offers them good money for property on the river they take it. The somebody else gets an acre on the river for a few thousand then somebody else then somebody else then a developer comes and offers a bunch of money for the property. And somehow it's the white folks fault that bought the property before the price went up.

Stupid is as stupid does

Enter the echo chamber...

White property owners saw an increased value of a couple grand, minority property owners saw an increased value in property by 37 grand or so... yeah perfectly okay.

Very underhanded, but nothing new. This happened in Atlanta and forced blacks to move outside their beltway (285) back in the late 90's. Blatant racist pigs.

Originally posted by Kali74
Enter the echo chamber...

White property owners saw an increased value of a couple grand, minority property owners saw an increased value in property by 37 grand or so... yeah perfectly okay.

According to the article, "white" property owners already had 'improved' property and were already paying 5 times more...no additional improvements have been made to their area so they shouldn't experience a big tax increase.

"Minority" property owners had huge growth and development in their area so their undervalued property became worth a lot more, hence their taxes went up significantly. That's what happens when a slum turns into a nice suburban area; the property values rise! When you tear down a trailer and build a house or turn empty land into a subdivision the values jumps dramatically.

They should be happy that their investment has increased in value significantly.

I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy!

That increase on these property owners is nearly 10 fold, unbelievable. Compared to other owners who happen to be white, less than a double increase in taxes? Seriously??

"Plaintiffs have observed that before the growth came to the Fulshear area, sometime before the year 2006 and prior, land owned by minorities valued by Fort Bend County Appraisal District was at $4,000-$4,500 per acre, while land owned by whites were around $20,000 per acre; growth hit and the value of minority's property jumped to $41,000 an acre while whites $22,000-$23,000 per acre," the complaint states.

www.courthousenews.com...

And yet the same folks who brought us the TEA protests, "taxed enough already", are no where to be found.

hmm..

I used to live next to Fulshire and I know several people that live there. It is rural. There is nothing out there. It was completely rural ( rural roads, no schools, sidewalks, parks, amenities, sewer system,etc) until just a few years ago. Anyone that lived out there truly lived in the boonies. 50 mminute drive into Houston on a good day.

Now, as the price of real estate in Houston rose and the city sprawled out some developers bought up a lot of land in Fulshire and made some high end developments (most of the homes are customs starting at $400,000 when lots of similar areas in surrounding Houston are in the low $200's). Also since it was so rural, people bought up large parcels of farm land to make horse farms, giant estates, etc.

Anyone living there prior to 10 years ago either lived in trailers or in crappy dilapidated 50's homes. Now, because of all of the development and infrastructure, the taxes have jumped up tremendously because the lot values have gone up 4-10x. Municipal taxes have been added to pay for sewers, streets, levees, water, etc and the shiny new school.

ALL of the old residents of Fulshire are squawking about the increased taxes, it's not a racial thing at all. It's funny to see how non-local media is picking up on this when it isn't N issue. Texas has high property taxes as it is. They are always low in unincorporated areas and drastically higher in incorporated areas. Fulshire has evolved from the former to the latter, and the new taxes reflect that

Originally posted by Kali74
reply to post by ThirdEyeofHorus

 

So Agenda 21 has been in effect for decades?
It's called Gentrification and has everything to do with Capitalism and Racism, not some paranoid delusion of Agenda 21.

Socialists and leftists always want to make this about the evils of Capitalism without explaining the role that Socialism and Communism has in this. It is the left/right paradigm for a reason. It is Marxists who have classically used class warfare in their agenda to end Capitalist bourgeois society.
The Agenda 21 activity is NOT paranoid delusion, it is FACT and you said your self it has been in effect for several decades, in the 1970's but the Earth Summit in Rio was when it got a big push in the 90's during the Clinton era.

www.postsustainabilityinstitute.org...

As with everything else the NWO does, things moved slowly but surely. Now it is moving into the local areas with a vengeance.
I am sorry you cannot accept the leftist hand in this, but they have been involved with seizing American's properties via eminent domain for a long time, and through conservation easements.

You want to make it a racist thing just like the left did with the Trayvon Martin case, and if there is true racism at the heart I will acknowledge it if you can prove it, but I am almost certain that it is just that minorities are getting hit before the more wealthy.
You just want it be evil Capitalist right wing hatred and racism. Even Rosa Koire, a liberal understands this in a bipartisan way.

reply to post by ThirdEyeofHorus

Socialists and leftists always want to make this about the evils of Capitalism

The funny thing is, the OP is about the local government jacking up property taxes far more on one group compared to another group. Something people like you don't seem to have a problem with. You know? Hypocrisy?