Wednesday, the Republican Party of Texas released its 2022 Platform as approved by delegates to its State Convention in mid-June. 

Among the 274 ‘planks’ or policy positions were all three of the items set forth in Texans for Fiscal Responsibility’s (TFR) Texas Prosperity Plan, which was introduced in early June and calls for the banning of taxpayer-funded lobbying, the elimination of the property tax, and freezing state spending as a means to ensure fiscal sanity and prosperity for both current and future generations of Texans.

Thousands of Republican activists from across the state of Texas convened in Houston in mid-June to deliberate and craft the 2022 Texas GOP Platform, as a statement of policy positions for the entirety of the party, and as a guide for elected officials up and down the ballot who run under the Republican banner. 

The language included in the 2022 Texas GOP Platform can be seen here:

Plank 76. State Fiscal Restraint: We urge the Legislature to amend the Texas Constitution and State statute with a stricter spending limitation based on US Census population growth plus inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, and apply the new limit to Texas’s total government budget. We call on the Texas State Legislature to freeze State spending until wasteful programs have been eliminated, a sustainable size of government has been restored, and substantive property tax relief has been provided to Texas citizens. Any budget surplus shall be applied to property tax relief.

Plank 90. Axe the Property Tax: We support replacing the property tax system for businesses and individuals with an alternative other than the income tax and requiring voter approval to increase the overall tax burden. We urge the Legislature to immediately develop a transition plan that is a net tax cut.

Plank 232. Tax-Funded Lobbying: We oppose using tax dollars to hire lobbyists or paying tax dollars to associations that lobby the Legislature.

What is Next?

The Texas Legislature and every statewide elected office has been controlled by Republicans for nearly two decades. The track record for these same elected officials with regard to consideration of their own party’s platform has been spotty at best in that same time period.

The next legislative session is set to begin in January of 2023. Your elected officials need to hear from you.

How can you help? Go read the Texas Prosperity Plan for yourself and voice your support for banning taxpayer-funded lobbying, eliminating the property tax, and freezing state spending by signing up to support the TPP. Sign up for The Fiscal Note to keep up to date on all fiscal issues that affect Texans, especially our broken property tax system. We CAN put Texas on a path to fiscal sanity and future prosperity if we amplify our voices loud enough.