The taxpayer-funded lobby is doubling down on their decades-long effort to oppose any and all attempts to reform Texas’ property tax system, and State Rep. Mike Lang (R-Granbury) has had enough.
Lang, a second-term lawmaker and newly-elected Chair of the Texas Freedom Caucus, received a letter included with his water bill over the weekend from the Granbury City Council urging residents of the city to categorically oppose efforts to place more control with local taxpayers over their tax rates.
“I will always stand with the taxpayer, even if the Granbury City Council and the TML [Texas Municipal League] will not,” Lang said in his official press release.
Texas Municipal League, one of the largest government-growth advocates in the Austin lobby, has staunchly opposed efforts to reform skyrocketing property taxes in Texas driving taxpayers out of their homes and businesses. In the organization’s 2019-2020 Legislative Program released ahead of the 86th Legislative Session, they state their adamant opposition to all measures that would reduce a city’s ability to raise rates in any way:
1. Defeat any legislation that would erode municipal authority in any way, impose an unfunded mandate, or otherwise be detrimental to cities, especially legislation that would:
c. impose a revenue and/or tax cap of any type, including a reduced rollback rate, mandatory tax rate ratification elections, lowered rollback petition requirements, limitations on overall city expenditures, exclusion of the new property adjustment in effective rate and rollback rate calculations, or legislation that lowers the rollback rate and gives a city council the option to re-raise the rollback rate.
TML and its members spent millions of dollars to mislead taxpayers on reformative legislation in legislative sessions past, but it remains unknown to what extent they are currently utilizing other taxpayer resources to petition residents on legislative issues.
“As a very active member of the Granbury community, I am appalled by the letter that I received in my water bill,” Lang continued. “Water bills should not be used as a vessel for taxpayer funded lobbying, I would rather the city lower my water bill than send me a flyer using taxpayers’ money.”
The Texas Senate Property Tax Committee is meeting for the first time this week, and Senate Bill 2, the session’s marquee property tax reform legislation, will be the predominant topic of discussion before its members.
