Tax Increase, Tax Decrease, Who Can Say Anymore?

Here's how the City of Richardson's weekly PR email "Week in Review" put it:

The budget also includes a $0.05421 tax rate reduction, rolling the City’s tax rate back to levels last seen in 2006.

Source: City of Richardson.

That's a "tax rate reduction", right? The City says so, right there. Not so fast.

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Here's what the City Council agenda item, approving that "tax rate reduction", actually said:

CONSIDER ORDINANCE NO. 4434, LEVYING THE AD VALOREM TAXES FOR THE YEAR 2022 (FISCAL YEAR 2022-2023) AT A RATE OF $0.56095 PER ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100) ASSESSED VALUATION ON ALL TAXABLE PROPERTY WITHIN THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF RICHARDSON AS OF JANUARY 1, 2022.

Source: City of Richardson.

No claim there that $0.56095 is a tax rate reduction. On the other hand, no admission that it's a tax rate increase, either. I guess it's up to us to figure it out ourselves.

Finally, here's the motion actually made orally by Council member Joe Corcoran:

Mr. Mayor, I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of 0.56095 which is effectively a 4.23% increase in the tax rate.

Source: City of Richardson.

He did move that the "tax rate be increased", right? This is the motion that passed unanimously, the motion that the City's "Week in Review" calls a "tax rate reduction."

So which is it? Hint: it's both. Or neither. The terminology is dictated by the Texas state legislature, who wants to call everything a tax hike, unless it's something they do. The sales tax rate is set by the state, and the $3.88 billion in July sales tax revenue was the highest in Texas history, but you don't hear the state telling Texans that the legislature is responsible for a tax rate increase. For more on the confusing terminology, read "When is a Tax Hike not a Tax Hike?" from 2013 in the archives here at The Wheel.

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Source: Saturday Night Live.