TAX WAR: Property tax breaks for seniors would leave younger generations to pick up the tab

A generational war is taking place across the nation as seniors are getting more and more tax relief while younger generations are left holding the bag. This comes as housing prices have been facing upward pressure from inflation.

According to Cision, home prices since 1980 have soared 551 percent while income growth has been slow to keep up at only 373 percent across the nation. The median price on a home was just above $440,000 in June, even though it has eased slightly since then.

Younger Americans are less and less able to purchase a home as a result, with those in older generations already owning properties getting the luxury of tax breaks. One example is in Texas, according to Money Wise, where legislators are putting together a $10 billion property tax reduction bill that will give more tax breaks to those over 65 and those with disabilities. The savings for senior homeowners could be around $950 a year.

However, younger Texans fear that they will get left holding the bag as younger people will be supporting the tax base, which is heavily dependent on property taxes. "You're stuck there, and you're looking at an inevitable property tax increase, because a group of people is voting to opt themselves out," Taylor Scriber, a millennial who lives in Texas looking to buy his first home.

The exemptions for those over 65 are already on top of exemptions for homesteads in Texas, like in other parts of the country. 39 percent of homesteads do not pay any school district property taxes. Many of those who do homestead are older as well.

Colton Pace, the CEO and founder of Ownwell, a property tax appeal service, said, "A transfer is definitely happening, but it's more structural than deliberate." He said that nearly every state has more relief for homeowners who are 65 and older.

"But in many places, that's paired with a freeze on school district taxes that locks in a senior's assessed value while younger buyers and commercial properties absorb the full market increase every year," he said.

Most senior exemptions are not based on income or property value, which leads to modest homes and mansions being included. "The resulting increase in rates is taken up by younger purchasers who don't have a similar statutory offset, due to the way the legislation is framed, and could be addressed through a legislative redesign," Lea D. Uradu, a Maryland-based tax attorney at FileTax.com, said.

Further down the road, legislators will likely feel increased pressure to expand exemptions or move them to an income-based system.