Taxpayers for Equal Appraisal Access Information!
Taxation must be equal and uniform!

Property taxes must be equal and uniform.
Protesting taxes must be a fair and equitable process.
All property must be valued and taxed equally and uniformly.

Taxpayers for equal appraisal!
-TEA-

Email us:  coachdanhart@msn.com

HCADTEA.ORG is a non-profit organization established to help you understand how to protest your property taxes, both real property and business property, so that you can save money.  In a perfect world, your property would be taxed fairly and uniformly.  We are here to help you understand how property taxes are set, both in Houston and Harris County, Texas, the State of Texas, and, in fact, all over the United States. 

Spring, 2002 Set out below are stories by date of occurrence which will interest you, the property taxpayer in Harris County, about activities at HCAD: The is a continuation of a brief history of some of the public and private statements of HCAD’S current general counsel and at the same time, the second in command of HCAD’s entire operation, Sands Littlefield Stiefer (S.L.S.):  Excerpts:    April 1995. The story behind this is of R. Michael Lee, a property tax protester who is suing HCAD in State District Court over the value of his home.  R. Michael Lee prepared a summary of his case in which he referred to S.L.S.   Lee found out that HCAD wanted to settle the case out of court.  “A deputy (Stiefer) stated to Lee that the Chief Appraiser, Jim Robinson, withdrew the agreement (this agreement was an offer to settle the suit out of court).  Lee then questioned Stiefer about why the Chief Appraiser withdrew the offer to settle the case out of court.  He (Stiefer) said that you should speak to your own attorney because since, I, too am an attorney, I know that, like a shark, I would as soon eat your alive as look at you.’  Later, HCAD did notify Lee's attorney that they were withdrawing the agreement.        October 29, 1998 Stiefer writes to the tax assessor collector of a SCHOOL district, Ms. Toni Trumbull, asking to receive $4,000.00 for writing an appraisal course to be used by Property Tax Education Committee, (PTEC) (of which the tax assessor collector was a member and served on a committee) for the continuing education of appraisers in the state.    70 hours of work by Stiefer had already been completed in writing the course material and he wrote asking for payment for the work.  $3,500 to HCAD for work he had done on company time and he also asked for $4,000 for himself, personally, to complete his work on the course material.   But, the creed of the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts (TAAD) states that no member will use the appraisal district’s resources to pursue private interests or to earn personal benefits while employed by the appraisal district.  Texas A&M’S Real Estate Center had been writing the course material up to this time.    Shortly after this letter was sent, Texas A&M was partially dropped from providing the course material and PTEC contracted with various individuals to write the course material.

What is the taxpayer's role? You can play an effective role in the process..... if you know your rights, understand the remedies available to you, and fulfill your responsibilities.