The Republican Party of Texas has released the official, delegate-approved 2026 Platform.1 After the June convention in Houston, the final document is now public. Texans for Fiscal Responsibility is pleased to report that every one of our primary policy initiatives, edits or rewrites of existing planks or entirely new planks, were incorporated in full and received delegate approval.
These planks are clear directives to Republican officeholders across the state, and especially state legislators in Austin for the 90th Legislature. They address the core drivers of higher taxes, unchecked local spending, taxpayer-funded special interests, and government waste. Below is a brief look at each.
Plank 66 – Government Spending and Taxation
Delegates affirmed and strengthened the party’s position that government spending is out of control at every level of government and demanded immediate, aggressive restraint. The plank calls for freezing state spending, cutting waste, fraud, abuse, and unconstitutional expenditures, and dedicating 90 percent or more of any state surplus to property-tax relief until those taxes are eliminated. At the local level it calls for requiring spending limits tied to the lesser of population growth plus inflation or 3.5 percent, two-thirds voter approval for tax or debt increases, and the power for voters to force rollback elections. This is the foundation for real fiscal discipline and property tax elimination.
Plank 69 – Predatory Gambling
The platform now soundly rejects every form of predatory gambling: state lotteries, regional casinos, online sports betting, online casinos, and more. It specifically demands the complete and immediate abolition of the scandal-plagued Texas Lottery, redirection of remaining funds to general revenue or genuine education priorities, and a veto of any budget that relies on gambling expansion. Texans should not be treated as a revenue source for the state through a system that preys on the vulnerable.
Plank 79 – Ax the Property Tax
Delegates endorsed the full elimination of the property-tax system for both businesses and individuals. The transition must be a net tax cut, achieved through fiscal discipline rather than a new income tax or other tax levy. This remains the clearest path to restoring true ownership for Texans.
Plank 80 – Property Tax Relief
As concrete steps toward the elimination of property taxes, the platform demands two-thirds voter approval for any tax increase, closure of the unused-increment and disaster loopholes, higher thresholds for bond elections, and the ability of 10 percent of registered voters to force a rollback election, and dedicating 90% or more of any state surplus to eliminating school maintenance and operations property taxes for all property owners.
Plank 232 – Municipal Receivership for Failing Cities
A brand new issue added to the platform is a call for “municipal receivership.” When cities demonstrate sustained high violent crime, repeated defiance of state preemption statutes, or dire fiscal mismanagement, the state must have authority to appoint a temporary receiver. The receiver’s job is to restore essential services, enforce state law, eliminate waste, and return the municipality to sound operations under legislative oversight. Local control is restored once objective benchmarks are met. Taxpayers should not be left indefinitely funding failed local governments that drag the whole state down.
Plank 237 – Defund Woke and Weaponized Government
In another new plank, delegates called for the complete defunding and elimination of all DEI, CRT, LGBT, and similar ideological programs at every level of government, from state agencies, and higher education, to public schools and local entities, with real enforcement mechanisms, including defunding noncompliant entities. Taxpayer dollars are not a subsidy for political activism.
Plank 239 – Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying
The platform demands a clean, comprehensive ban on all forms of taxpayer-funded lobbying. No public dollars may be used by political subdivisions, school districts, associations, or any entity that derives its funding from taxpayers to hire lobbyists or fund lobbying activity. No loopholes, carve-outs, or alternative structures. This is a direct strike at the big-government apparatus that inflates local budgets and resists pro-taxpayer reforms.
Follow through is Key
These seven planks represent a clear mandate from the people who make up the Texas GOP. The test will come when the 90th Legislature convenes. Taxpayers will be watching to see whether their republican representatives, those who claim to embrace party principles like limited government, embrace or dismiss the policies that Republicans directly are asking for.
Texans for Fiscal Responsibility relies on the support of private donors across the Lone Star State in order to promote fiscal responsibility and pro-taxpayer government in Texas. Please consider supporting our efforts! Thank you!
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- https://mcusercontent.com/9200916126629087cec2fd7bc/files/b6ca0c17-eb15-b8a4-e675-29eebd207b27/2026_Republican_Party_of_Texas_Platform_As_Approved.01.pdf ↩︎
