Unfortunately, we do pay property tax & of course in places like Houston they are high, but there are now so many little communities in the hill country (outside Austin) & up & down the coast - if you don't live right on the beach were the property taxes aren't bad.
If Tom is a died-in-the wool NYer, I am afraid he might have a bad case of culture shock, but the image of Texas in general, is so different from the larger cities. Extremely cosmopolitian - great restaurants, clubs & all the fine arts things you could ask for. I don't get to see all the plays, musicals, operas or ballets I would like to, because the expensive would be horrible. I would be homeless, for lack of paying those property taxes. But they are deductible & when you don't have all those other state taxes to deduct from your federal, you don't mind the property tax as much. And the property tax really isn't that high!