I know you're likely not posting in good faith, but for anyone else reading this, the US political parties basically swapped ideologies.

200 years ago Republicans were liberal and Democrats were largely conservative. Unsurprisingly, things changed over 200+ years. Also unsurprisingly, the Civil Rights Era played a big part in this

More info here: Democratic and Republican parties flip ideologies

I'm a Texan homeowner. I have a modest 1600 sqft home built in the 80s. I pay about $6300/year in property taxes. My effective property tax rate is 2.47%, which is considered low.

Sources online will tell you that the state average is between 1.6-1.8%, but that is because the "agricultural exemption" is used by very wealthy landowners to reduce their tax burden.

Those over 65 can "lock" their tax rate (and qualify for additional exemptions), so even if the property value doubles they don't pay one extra cent in tax --- shifting that tax burden to the younger generation, of course.

Californians pay less in taxes than Texans -- unless you're in the top 1% of wage earners, then you pay a LOT less in Texas. Source: link

>So if these are PACs then it’s effectively the same as donating to the party, just splitting hairs really?

Exactly. The above user mentioned a bad Supreme Court decision, and they nailed the problem right on the head. Look up Citizens United.

Check out this article How Stephen Colbert Taught Americans About Super PACs to learn more, and bonus points because Stephen Colbert is awesome and showed us how ridiculous it all really is.