I saw an article about tax increases for Travis Co. and City of Austin, which got me looking at projected taxes using this link: https://travis.trueprodigy-taxtransparency.com/taxTransparency/propertySearch
I searched my own address and compared my projected tax amounts it to some similar homes around me. I noticed something odd with one home close to mine, very similar in construction, age, and market value. Their projected taxes were much lower than mine, and I wondered how that is. I have the standard homestead exemption and that's it. Travis CAD shows their house as having "HS, OTHER" for exemptions. I don't know what the "OTHER" exemption is but I think it may be the over-65 one because one of them (married) turned 65 recently.
Anyway, the data for their property shows as follows:
Net Appraised Taxable Value
City of Austin: $ 350,230 $ 126,184
Travis County $ 350,230 $ 143,784
How is their taxable value so low? My taxable value is more than 100k more than theirs despite a very similar net appraised value. Does the Over-65 exemption knock off like an extra 100k of taxable value? No one owning or living in that home has an apparent disability, or is a veteran. The owner has a good income (2X mine) from a professional job and they are healthier than I am.
Thanks for any insights. Maybe I should look forward to turning 65 if it has this dramatic of an effect.