Very soon, you will surely be receiving news from your legislators about an epic “breakthrough” in property tax relief, brought to you by your Texas Legislature. You will hear that $18 BILLION dollars will be returned to taxpayers in the form of property tax relief, and some unscrupulous legislators will even brag that this is the largest tax relief in Texas History.
Unfortunately, the “breakthrough” only represents approximately $13B in new property tax relief. $5.3B (or 30% of the advertised figure) was actually put into place in 2019, and your legislators are hoping you don’t realize that 30% of the “breakthrough” represents old property tax cuts you’ve already gotten.
The largest tax relief in recent history represented a little over $20B, adjusted for inflation. Do you remember the deep savings brought by the 2008 tax cut?
Neither do I.
Our Texas Legislature started session with a $33 BILLION surplus: the biggest surplus in the history of our state. Instead of giving ALL of that back in the form of tax relief, they decided to enact the biggest spending increase in Texas HISTORY—a 42% increase in spending since the last biennium.
Your Texas Legislature decided to increase spending by $69B, which is more than twice what Canada spends every year to fund its entire defense budget. It is approximately the same as what Russia spends on its military.
But your legislature has graciously bestowed $13B back to you in tax relief. Even worse, only $7B will be spent on new “compression,” meaning that as your appraisals continue to rise over coming years you will see less and less lasting savings from this tax relief.
The Texas Legislature is clearly not serious about Governor Abbott’s call to eliminate property taxes in Texas, and this agreement is evidence of their refusal to make any headway toward meaningful tax relief for Texas property owners.
Our representatives in Austin have failed us. The uni-party has united against financial relief for Texans and sold you a deal that allows them to keep tens of billions of your money!
Skyrocketing appraisals are causing everyday Texans to be taxed out of their homes When elected, I will fight to cap the preposterous growth of government spending and abolish the property tax system entirely over a decade.
We cannot afford any more half-measures from RINOs who claim to be fiscal conservatives. If we want a prosperous future for Texas, we need to elect conservatives to the House who will put the people of Texas first.
Last month, the Texas House teased taxpayers by announcing a new Committee on “Sustainable Property Tax Relief.” I guess we all found out that our legislators idea of “sustainability” is overtaxing citizens, and keeping most of the record surplus to grow government.