Democrats began taking control of the Harris County area during the blue wave of 2018, and since 2019, have controlled county government. According to a new report from the Houston Chronicle, in that time, Harris County property taxes have shot up by a shocking 60 percent.
The report shows that the tax growth has outpaced inflation by a full 23% since 2019, something Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey says is due to the ever-increasing spending.
Ramsey, the court’s lone Republican, explained: “We spend too much money, and the spending problem is on things that are not necessary. They come up with a new program almost every meeting.”
Those ever-increasing programs, and growing administrative bloat in Harris County, have led to shockingly high increases. According to Ramsey: “When they took over in 2019, our budget was $1.9 billion. Today, less than three years later, it’s $3.1 billion.”
He says the simple solution to this is for the county government to exercise the same fiscal responsibility that residents of the county have to maintain. “Do what we do in our budgets. Sometimes I can’t afford to eat out, so I eat a sandwich. These people don’t understand how to stay home and eat a sandwich.”