Dallas Blog

So Dave Neumann doesn't like the business tax on this element but he's OK with the same fees for "good" apartment communities and extended stay hotels. Hypocrite. Another case of a politician believing taxes are just fine unless their name goes on the legislation.

Let's not forget... the city already gets more in taxes from rental houses. Disclaimer: Though I do not currently own rental property in Dallas, I had considered doing so in the past.

How? Owner-occupied houses qualify for a homestead exemption. Rental houses do not qualify for a homestead exemption. That means in principle, anybody who owns a rental house is paying more in real estate taxes for not occupying that house themselves than other owner-occupied houses of the same value. This IS simply another tax on property owners, in return for no additional services. Do you think the city would REALLY improve code enforcement(equally, for all properties) or do you think they'd let the "big boys" slide while the little guy who owns one or two properties to supplement his income gets crushed?

This is the HOPE and Change mentality that we voted for! Stick it to the man!

Actually it's pretty simple, there is no declaration that adequately sums up all the various situations that occur.

It is absurd for the city to chase a renter. The owners could presumably recover the ticket price from the tennant, though the owner would be liable if he didn't get notified and failed to appear.

Almost every home has code violations on the property. What gets me is if you screw up and miss your court date you're really behind the 8 ball. Suddenly you need to post a bond and if you're tight on finances.

Say you have a landscape business and financial charlatans and media know nothings who never do due diligence allow these charlatans to collapse our financial markets without a critical word. Suddenly you have an April where you might reasonably expect to make $10,000 yet make only say $316 cause everyone is scared to spend money.

Perhaps you have a few kids, a wife in college and the judge thinks it's cute to get tough. He has so many constables running speed traps but not enough office workers to service the fines without a 2 hour lunch hour wait. The constable can't believe anyone would complain. The complainant charges the Constable with being contemptuous of us. The Constable bitches about the County Commissioner.

Complainant asks if the Constable ever spoke publicly about his frustrations, he says he can't. He asks if complainant considered this at the election. Complainant says he sure doesn't remember any of this being an election issue.

Complainant thinks a self serving judge who blinds himself to the hardships of those before him isn't engaging in justice, or fairness. Complainant wonders when we will bring back debtor's prisons. Complainant wouldn't have gotten a ticket in the first place had he had the Do Re Mi to buy a new truck, if finances weren't an issue. Complainant resents small gov't blowhard lecturing him over his personal life when he can't run his own office, and lacks the integrity to speak out.

This system is really unjust, fucks the working man. If you're an office bound professional paying off an atty to bury some case is easy. We have a two tier justice system. We have a two tier political system. The poor pay a huge percentage of their income to taxes, the elites 17%. Complainant pays 15.5% in withholding alone, 18% on all income--that's 33%.

The council is a predatory body. God forbid we pay for gov't out of simple taxes. The fees and fines drain the poor while the wealthy, able to game to system get off Scot free. Further, we subsidize the elite's businesses as they can lobby for influence.

Why does it matter if the property is leased or owned? A lessee is just as responsible as an owner under Texas Property Code. The city should cite the correct person for code compliance issues. That is their job. I'd help them find the right person, but why is that costing me $25? Another way to raise taxes...

I'm with Caraway. It is WRONG for all of the taxpayers in this town to have to foot the bill to chase down renters. Although I did manage to get my next door neighbor thrown in jail a few years ago on a code violation that went into warrant status, the suck part about that is it did nothing to actually FIX THE CODE PROBLEM! The owner continued to rent to his crappy nephew for another two years. Had the citation been issued to the owner, the code violation would have been fixed and he probably would have thrown his nephew out a lot sooner.

I don't care if you don't make a whole bunch of money renting properties, I understand it's not necessarily lucrative (my family has scores and scores of rental property and I grew up fixing houses with my grandfather) but nobody is forcing anyone to rent out their properties. If you don't want to deal with the headache of crappy tenants doing dumb stuff, then don't get into the business.