MANSFIELD, Texas — As many homeowners across the state are taking a closer look at their spending, a North Texas city council is trying to give some relief to its residents through some tax relief.
The Mansfield City Council recently approved increasing the existing Homestead Exemption by 2%, which brings the total to 12%.
This exemption provides a tax break for homeowners who qualify. What you can do in Texas is exclude a portion of your home's value from assessment, which would mean you don't get taxed as much.
Texas is one of many states that doesn't have a state income tax, meaning taxes from homeowners is an important part of state funding. This is why the homestead exemption helps provides tax breaks for homeowners.
So whatever percentage the homestead exemption lands on for a city, residents can subtract that from the total percentage of the taxes they owe for the value of their primary residence.
To get more information on homestead exemptions, you can click here.
“With rising costs many Mansfield residents are re-examining their budgets and looking for any sort of fiscal help,” Mansfield Mayor Michael Evans said. “Increasing the homestead exemption is one way we can offer a bit of relief for our homeowners.”
Mansfield originally implemented a 10% homestead exemption in 2020. With a 12% homestead exemption, Mansfield residents will pay taxes on only 88% of the value of their primary residence as assessed by the Tarrant County, Johnson County, or Ellis County appraisal districts.
Residents whose property is already homesteaded will see the increase automatically provided. The homestead increase does not affect properties that already receive the over-65 tax ceiling or other freeze exemptions.
About 75% of homestead-eligible residential properties in Mansfield have already filed homestead exemption paperwork. The other 25% are either ineligible due to rental status or have not yet filed.
To file a homestead exemption, homeowners need to apply with the appraisal district of the county they reside.
In addition to increasing the Homestead Exemption, city leaders say they have looked at other ways to decrease the burden on taxpayers including reducing the tax rate.
“Over the past two years we have been able to decrease the tax rate from $0.71 per $100 of valuation to $0.69 and implement a 12% homestead exemption," City Manager Joe Smolinski said. "Strong fiscal policies and a commitment to strategic growth have allowed us to accomplish this and we will continue to work toward providing additional tax relief in the years to come."