A sentiment making its way around the Texas Legislature is that providing tax relief for property owners is “too big of a commitment.” An element of this sentiment was expressed several times in a recent Senate Finance Committee hearing where members repeatedly noted the cost of paying for property tax relief this session, when accounting for relief passed 2019, 2021, and 2023, will be $51 billion. 

Not noted in the discussion is why the relief is getting so expensive. 

In 2023, the Legislature committed $18 billion over two years to property tax relief, yet property taxes actually increased by roughly $6 billion during that time. Why? Because the Legislature to date has refused to rein in runaway spending and runaway property taxes by local governments and school districts. 

The graphic here shows that the Legislature is indeed committing much less money to property tax relief this session. Based on projections by Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar in his Biennial Revenue Estimate released last month, the Texas Legislature will have $275.5 billion dollars of state revenue available for spending. Taking out the $219.4 billion the Legislature appropriated in 2023, State Representatives and Senators will have $56.1 billion in new money available for spending over what they spent in 2023. 

Yet out of the $56.1 billion in new funds, the Texas Senate has proposed devoting only $6 billion to property tax relief; the Texas House only $6.5 billion. 

Which means that Texans only get back 11 percent of the new funds back in tax relief. 

Meanwhile 89%—$50.1 billion—will go to new spending. 

The best way to get over the weariness of paying for property tax relief is to eliminate them. And the best way to make that happen is to stop spending growth by the state and local governments.

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