Most Harris County listing sheets have a line near the bottom showing last year's property taxes. Buyers plug it into their mortgage estimate and move on to the kitchen. In a lot of cases, that number belongs to the seller and will not carry over to you.
Since 2025, homeowners across Harris County have been covered by Georgia's floating homestead exemption. It limits how fast the assessed value of an owner-occupied home can rise from year to year. The exemption is tied to the person who claimed it and ends at the sale. A seller who has lived in a house for years may be paying tax on a value held below what the assessor now says the home is worth. A buyer starts that clock over.
The Cap Belongs to the Owner
Georgia's floating exemption came from House Bill 581, passed in 2024. Every county, city and school district was covered unless it filed an opt-out by March 1, 2025. On the Georgia Secretary of State's list of opt-outs, none of these filed: Harris County government, the Harris County Board of Education, Hamilton, Pine Mountain, Shiloh or Waverly Hall. That means each of those taxing bodies has applied the cap since the 2025 tax year.
The cap works by setting a base. For anyone who already had a homestead exemption in 2025, the base was the home's 2024 assessed value, and the Georgia Department of Revenue explained that in effect those assessed values did not change from 2024 to 2025. After that, the base can rise each year only by an inflation index. For the 2026 digest, the Department of Revenue set that index at 2.7%, which is the national CPI-U change through December 2025.
On transfers, the law is explicit. The text of HB 581 says:
"no exemption provided for in this subsection shall transfer to any subsequent owner of the property, and the assessed value of the property shall be as provided by law."
The only exception in that section is for a surviving spouse who keeps living in the home. For an ordinary purchase, the seller's capped value leaves with the seller.
January 1 Decides Which Year Becomes Your Base
A new owner's base comes from a specific year. Under the statute, it is the home's assessed value "from the taxable year immediately preceding the taxable year in which the exemption … is first granted." The base is the property's full assessed value for that year. It is not the lower taxable figure the seller was paying on.
Which year your exemption is first granted depends on a date on the calendar. The Harris County Tax Assessor's Office says you must own and occupy the property as of January 1 to be eligible. Starting in April 2026, you can file the application any time from January 1 through the end of that year's appeal period.
For a buyer reading this at the end of October 2026, the statute and the assessor's rule work out like this:
| When you own and occupy the home | First year you can hold the exemption | Year whose assessed value becomes your base |
|---|---|---|
| As of January 1, 2027 | 2027 | 2026 |
| Only after January 1, 2027 | 2028 | 2027 |
The second row also means a buyer who doesn't own and occupy the home until after January 1, 2027 has no homestead exemption at all for the 2027 tax year. That includes the standard exemption, which the assessor's office describes as $2,000 taken off the 40% assessed value. A few weeks either side of New Year's Day can change your first two tax years.
Where the Digest Growth Shows Up Instead
Once you see that the cap protects people who stay put, this year's Harris County millage notices make more sense.
The Harris County Board of Education kept its rate at 18.5 mills for 2026, the same as 2025. Even so, it had to advertise a property tax increase of 4.1%, because 18.5 mills is above the computed rollback rate of 18.367. The board's press release says why: the extra revenue "is driven by growth in the county's tax digest, including increased property values and the addition of newly constructed homes and other taxable property."
County government had the same issue. Its 2026 notice proposed 9.13 mills outside West Point against a rollback rate of 9.066, and 5.478 mills inside West Point against 5.403. Hearings were held August 4 and August 18. The rates the county now posts are 9.13 mills for the county and 18.5 mills for the school board.
Here's how that connects. A capped homestead's base can grow only by the inflation index each year. Any digest growth above that has to come from property outside the cap: newly built homes, homes without a homestead exemption, and homes whose base just reset after a sale. A buyer this year falls in that last group. The rate doesn't change, but the value it applies to is new.
The Fall Market Gives You Time to Pull the Tax Card
Harris County buyers have more room to check this than they did a year ago. The Georgia Association of REALTORS Local Market Update for September 2026, current as of October 16, shows these single-family figures for the county:
- 239 homes for sale in September 2026, up 37.4% from September 2025
- 4.7 months of supply, up from 4.0
- 57 days on market until sale, up from 41
- 98.4% of list price received
September's median sale price fell 7.1% to $394,900, while the average rose 9.2% to $489,670. When the median drops and the average climbs, it usually means more high-priced homes sold that month alongside a softer middle. Through September, 465 homes had closed in 2026, up 19.8% from the same period in 2025.
Higher-priced homes are also where the gap between a long-time owner's capped base and today's assessed value can be largest in dollars. With nearly five months of supply and almost two months on market, a buyer has time to ask for the property's current assessed value and set it beside the tax line on the listing.
Columbus Gets the Same Rule in 2027
Many buyers compare Harris County with north Columbus, so here is how the rule differs across the county line. Columbus/Muscogee County and the Muscogee County Board of Education both filed HB 581 opt-outs on February 19, 2025. The school district said it already had a countywide homestead freeze and wanted to keep its existing local exemptions. That freeze comes from a local amendment voters approved in 1982. According to a 2003 Georgia Supreme Court decision, its base resets on the January 1 after an ownership change. So in Columbus, too, a capped value has always ended with the seller.
The next change is statewide. Gov. Brian Kemp signed SB 33 on May 11, 2026, and the law removes the HB 581 opt-out. The Department of Revenue's May 2026 legislative briefing says the statewide float applies January 1, 2027, with 2026 values as its baseline, and that January 1 is the homestead exemption date each year. The Georgia Recorder described the law as one that "caps property tax assessments at the rate of inflation." The Muscogee County Tax Assessor is the office that can explain how the new statewide float and Columbus's older freeze will apply to a particular bill.
For anyone comparing the two counties, the result is that from 2027 the January 1 date will set a new owner's base on both sides of the line.
Questions to Ask Before You Budget the Tax Line
- What is the home's current assessed value, separate from the seller's taxable value after exemptions?
- Does the seller hold the floating homestead exemption, and since what year?
- Will you own and live in the home by January 1, or will your first year of exemption be pushed back a year?
- Do you qualify for any other exemption on the assessor's list?
That last question matters for many of the families we work with. Harris County lists a homestead exemption of $121,812 for qualifying disabled veterans, and it extends to an unremarried surviving spouse or minor children. The same page lists a $4,000 exemption for owners 65 and older and an extra school-tax exemption for owners 62 and older, both with income limits.
Quick Answers
Does Harris County use the floating homestead exemption? Yes. None of the Harris County taxing bodies appears on the state's opt-out list, so the cap has applied since the 2025 tax year.
Do I have to apply after buying? Yes. The assessor's office says you need a new application after a change in ownership, filed between January 1 and the end of that year's appeal period.
How much can my base rise each year once I have the exemption? By the Department of Revenue's inflation index, which is 2.7% for the 2026 digest. Additions or improvements to the home can raise the base on top of that.
This post is general information and not tax or legal advice. Please confirm the details of your own exemption and closing with the Harris County Tax Assessor's Office or a qualified tax professional.
If you're weighing a Harris County home and want the real tax number before you make an offer, Mia Manns can pull the assessed value, map your closing timeline against the January 1 date, and connect you with the Tax Assessor's Office and the tax professionals who can confirm what applies to you. Let's Connect.