Issue #17 | October 29, 2026

Every January 1, something happens to your home that most Texas homeowners know absolutely nothing about. The government places a lien on your property. Automatically. No signature. No contract. No permission. You don't even get a vote. And if you refuse to pay the taxes secured by that lien, the government can ultimately foreclose and sell your home.

Welcome to the illusion of ownership. Where you get the privilege of paying for everything, but the government reserves the power to take it away.

Think about the financial pecking order.

FIRST: THE STATE OF TEXAS. Through Texas property-tax law, local taxing authorities have an automatic lien against your property. You never voluntarily agreed to it.

SECOND: THE BANK. Your mortgage lender holds a lien against your home. At least the bank had to get your signature before securing its claim.

THIRD: YOU. The person who made the down payment, pays the mortgage, maintains the property, buys the insurance, replaces the roof, and shoulders the financial risk.

Three parties. Two with the power to take your home. And one paying for the entire operation.

In 1066, William the Conqueror seized England and declared that all land ultimately belonged to the Crown. The king granted estates to powerful nobles, who divided them among lesser lords and knights. At the bottom were the peasants, working the land, paying dues, and supporting everyone above them.

The king had the ultimate claim. The lords enjoyed the privileges. And the peasants paid the price. It was called feudalism.

Fast-forward 960 years. Have we really come that far?

The king has been replaced by the State of Texas, the lords by the banks, and the peasants by homeowners. You buy the property, pay the mortgage, maintain the house, and shoulder the financial burden. Yet every January 1, the government automatically places a property tax lien on your home without your signature or consent.

The castles are gone. The crowns have disappeared. But the pecking order looks disturbingly familiar.

The appraisal district determines your property's value. But it doesn't set tax rates. Your elected officials adopt budgets and set the tax rates. But they don't determine your property's appraised value.

When the tax bill goes up, the finger-pointing begins. The appraisal district points to the market. The politicians point to rising valuations. And the homeowner gets the invoice.

The system divides responsibility, dilutes accountability, and leaves the taxpayer holding the bill.

Consider a home with a taxable value of $400,000. If that value increases to $440,000 and the tax rate stays the same, your tax bill increases 10%.The politicians can proudly announce they didn't raise your tax rate. Technically, they're telling the truth. But your bill still went up.

AND… at a 10% annual increase, a property-tax bill more than doubles in just seven years. That's the power of compounding when working against you. Rising taxable values pushing the bill higher each year. And here's the part that should make every homeowner pay attention.

When property values climb, the tax base expands. Local governments collect more revenue without increasing the published rate.

And once that money starts flowing, government budgets grow accustomed to it. More revenue. More spending. Bigger budgets. Another year of expenses to support. Then comes the next appraisal cycle.

When did rising home values become an automatic invitation for the government to spend more of our money?

Your house increasing in value doesn't mean your paycheck increased. It doesn't mean you have more cash in the bank. It doesn't mean you can afford another thousand dollars in annual taxes.

You haven't sold the property. You haven't collected a profit. Yet the government can demand more money based on what a bureaucrat estimates your home is worth.

Now, with Election Day approaching, property taxes have become one of the hottest political issues in Texas.

Imagine that. After years of homeowners complaining about rising bills, politicians are competing to demonstrate who can deliver the biggest tax break.

Governor Greg Abbott wants to eliminate school property taxes on homesteads, impose tighter limits on local spending, and give voters greater power over tax increases.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick wants to increase homestead exemptions and extend additional property-tax relief to homeowners beginning at age 55. Their political opponents have proposals of their own.

Texas has already delivered a bit of relief. The school homestead exemption is now $140,000, or $200,000 for qualifying homeowners 65 or older or disabled. Yet the public is still demanding change.

Apparently, the system that politicians have spent years defending becomes remarkably flexible when enough angry taxpayers threaten to vote them out of office.

These proposals raise another question. If school property taxes disappear, where does the money to operate the schools come from? The state? Sales taxes? Other taxpayers? Spending cuts?

Changing who writes the check doesn't reduce what the government spends.

Moving the tax burden isn't the same thing as reducing it.

And unless politicians address the spending decisions behind those bills, homeowners may find themselves celebrating relief with one hand while paying for it somewhere else with the other.

Here's what makes this entire arrangement so extraordinary.You can protest your appraisal. You can attend public hearings. You can vote against the politicians who approve the budgets. You can demand lower tax rates.

But you cannot simply refuse the government's annual claim against your property. Every January 1, the lien attaches again.The bank needs your voluntary agreement to secure its loan against your home.

The government needs nothing but a law it designed and wrote for itself.

And if you fall far enough behind, the state has the legal machinery to take your property by foreclosure. Ponder the contradiction… We celebrate homeownership as the foundation of financial independence. We encourage families to sacrifice, save, borrow, and spend decades building equity.

But we've fallen into a system under which that same family must continue making payments to the government indefinitely to keep the property it purchased.

That's not the unrestricted ownership most people imagine when someone hands them the keys. That's ownership with a permanent government collection mechanism attached.

Forget the campaign slogans for a moment. Remember the pecking order.

Number One: The State of Texas. Its property-tax lien attaches automatically, by right, under Texas law.

Number Two: The bank. Its mortgage claim comes from an agreement you signed.

Number Three: You. The homeowner who pays for the property, maintains it, insures it, and finances the entire arrangement.

You hold legal title, but the government and lender have enforceable rights that can cost you the property. And the government doesn't need your signature to create its tax lien.

That's the illusion of ownership.

The politicians are arguing about how much relief to give us. Maybe it's time taxpayers demanded something bigger: a system where government spending is transparent, accountability cannot be passed from one office to another, and homeowners have a meaningful say before the bill grows.

Because every January 1, regardless of who wins the election, the property-tax machine grinds on for another year.The state gets its claim. The bank gets its security. And the homeowner gets the bill.

Stay informed. Vote wisely. And hold your government accountable.