Taylor gains more than $1B in taxable property Official: City has some county`s most affordable homes
The Samsung Austin Semiconductor plant’s continuing development, and its associated increase in value, accounted for most of a $1.5 billion rise in total market value for Taylor, the City Council heard.
The total market value of property jumped from $4.02 billion in 2024 to $5.23 billion in 2025, Alvin Lankford, Williamson County’s chief appraiser, said during a July 10 session.
The increase was predominately in commercial property value, a reflection of Samsung’s ongoing construction, he told members on the dais.
The city uses the values from the Williamson Central Appraisal District to determine where the council needs to set the city tax rate in order to meet any budget members approve. A city budget must be in place by Oct. 1.
“I’m sure you’re aware of it, you’re the bad guy,” Mayor Dwayne Ariola quipped to Lankford. “While councils throughout the county and state can lower their tax rates, it’s the appraisals that come back for the algebraic equation. Because you have to multiply the tax rate times the value to get you the certain revenue.”
Lankford took the comment in stride, replying, “If I had a choice I would keep everything very low, but then you’d be upset because your tax rate would have to be high.”
The tax roll includes 6,190 houses, 546 commercial properties and 124 multifamily properties. While 90% of Taylor’s taxable properties are single-family residences, 48% of the city’s market value comes from commercial sites.
Taylor’s commercial property value was $280 million in 2020 and has increased 685% to $2.2 billion today.
Lankford said Taylor has reached a milestone where the city has as much commercial value as it does residential, and that could potentially be good news for homeowners.
“We’ve seen that in Round Rock for a number of years. They’ve been able to suppress the tax rate because they have so much commercial value. It’s going to be similar here in Taylor with the new additions,” Lankford said.
Taylor remains one of the more affordable places to purchase a home in the county, the council was told. The median value of a home in Taylor is $294,418, compared to $422,218 countywide.
The city added 122 new homes to the 2025 tax rolls, with 77% of the new homes in the $300,000-$400.000 range. Of the more than $5 billion market value, $4.7 billion is expected to be the total taxable value after homestead exemptions, homestead caps and business caps are counted, officials said.
Go vote, chief appraiser says
Lankford encouraged county residents to vote in November for a couple of state bills that could lower property taxes.
Senate Bill 4 would increase the homestead exemption amount used by school districts for calculating taxes from $100,000 to $140,000.
“Make sure you go vote for this,” Lankford said. “That’s the final step to make this a reality. That will affect about 190,000 properties in our county.”
House Bill 9, also on the ballot in November, would exempt the first $125,000 of business personal property. That refers to the equipment, fixtures and inventory a company owns.
Lankford said the bill would save local businesses about $1.5 billion in taxes.
Not all news was good news on the tax front. A bill expiring in 2026 will potentially have a big impact on Taylor businesses.
The Circuit Breaker Limitation, which placed a 20% cap on non-homesteaded properties such as commercial and industrial sites, will expire next year. In 2027, commercial properties will have no capped increases and will be assessed at full market value, which could have negative results for many, officials said.
“We could lose a lot of our downtown businesses because the appraisal value puts an extraordinary amount on the old buildings we have and there’s no way they can do it with rents and sales,” said Councilman Greg Redden.
Lankford agreed Redden’s scenario is possible.
“It depends on how much they were capped,” Lankford said. “There will be some properties that will increase quite dramatically.”
The appraiser encouraged property owners to go to wcad.org and view their properties and make sure they are getting every exemption for which they qualify.
He said changes made to the website make it easier to find more information and do more online, including filing a homestead exemption.
“There are tax agencies out there that will file your homestead for you, and it sounds like a great idea, great service. Unfortunately, though they’re charging a fee, sometimes as high as 25% of the savings associated with your homestead,” Lankford said. “A homestead in our county is worth around a thousand dollars. So, they’re going to charge you $250 to file something you could do yourself on our website in about five minutes. I’m going to caution you against that.”
“
“There will be some properties that will increase quite dramatically.”
— Alvin Lankford, Williamson County chief appraiser
