However, Texas routinely ranks well below national averages when analyses expand to examine total tax burdens, including state and local income taxes and sales taxes. In fact, Texas generally ranks in the bottom ten states based on combined income, property, sales and automobile taxes, according to a report issued by the District of Columbia's chief financial officer.

Each year, the D.C. government produces a report comparing tax burdens in the largest city in each state with the district's taxes. The report employs an elaborate set of assumptions designed to capture the important aspects of the tax system as it affects a hypothetical family of three.

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Homestead exemptions and other tax relief measures used in various states and cities are considered.

The report contains a compiled analysis of effective property tax rates for the cities in the study. An effective tax rate essentially represents the percentage of actual market value that must be remitted to state and local governments in property tax each year.

For example, suppose assessed values in a particular state are set at 50 percent of market value. If the official tax rate was set at $3 per hundred dollars of value, the effective tax rate would be $1.50 per hundred dollars of value, the product of multiplying $3 by 50 percent.

Dividing the $1.50 rate by the $100 of tax value to which it applies produces 1.5 percent, meaning that the effective levy will be 1.5 percent of market value. Because Texas assesses at 100 percent of market value, the effective tax rate would be the same as the official tax rate.

At an effective tax rate of $2.52 per $100 of value, Houston ranks fourth in the nation in property tax burden as a percent of value, not far behind chart topper Indianapolis at $2.92 per $100. So the Texas rate does indeed rank among the highest in the nation.

Rates tell only part of the story because exemptions, "circuit breakers" and an assortment of special treatments affect the actual levy for particular properties.

For example, suppose a home valued at $100,000 in a city with a combined effective tax rate of $1.50 per $100 enjoyed a homestead exemption of $25,000 in value. Without the exemption, taxes would be $1,500, but the exemption reduces tax value to $75,000, and the tax assessment becomes $1,125 dollars.

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The D.C. study addresses this issue by estimating the amount of tax a family of three would pay in each city after taking all the exemptions and credits the typical family could claim. In Houston, the total income, property, sales and automobile tax burden for the hypothetical family earning $100,000 per year amounted to $5,357 in 2008, ranking the state 44th, with a tax burden of 5.4 percent of family income.

Houston consistently ranks in the bottom ten for total tax burden except for the lowest income level. However, even that burden ranks 36th out of the 50 states and D.C. These results suggest that although Texas property tax rates are steep compared with other states, overall tax burdens are generally low by comparison.