While politicians have been paying lip service to property tax relief and reform since last year, they are doing very little about it at the Capitol. In fact, the Texas House Ways and Means Committee has gutted the comprehensive property tax reform measure supported by Gov. Greg Abbott.
As it stands right now, not only is the House failing to provide substantive tax relief, they aren’t even trying to protect taxpayers from rampant overtaxation in a meaningful way.
It’s critical that taxpayers across the state make their voices heard in the Texas Capitol. Every state representative needs to hear that Texans need both relief AND reform and that taxpayers will only believe that has occurred when their 2019 tax bill is smaller than its predecessor.
Main points:
- House Bill 2 should be restored to its original language (put schools back in).
- House Bill 2 should include ALL entities taxing property, including school districts.
- Legislators should prevent ANY entity from increasing their property tax revenues 2.5 percent or more without a public vote on a uniform election date.
And taxpayers need to act fast.
While it is rumored that House Bill 2 will be taken up on the floor next week, the Texas House is going to consider House Bill 3—the mega school spending plan—on Wednesday, April 3. Whether or not they fix House Bill 2, your phone calls could impact the changes they make to turn HB 3 into a vehicle for protecting taxpayers.
House Bill 3 spends $9 billion—with just $2.7 billion going to property tax relief. That’s an amount even one of the bill authors describes as “not substantive.” In fact, House Bill 3 will currently result in higher property taxes for many Texans!
Every legislator needs to be reminded that their first obligation is to protect taxpayers, not grow government!
Contact your state representative via the Capitol Switchboard by calling (512)-463-4630.
Don’t know who your state representative is? Visit map.empowertexans.com to find out!
