In a stunning display of leadership, several conservative members of the Texas House secured a victory for taxpayers by standing up and blocking the final passage of a weak, mostly-for-show property tax “relief” bill, and ensuring pro-taxpayer reforms can live to fight another day.
The bill in question, Senate Bill 10 (SB 10) by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), is legislation that proposes to lower the voter approval tax rate from 3.5% to 2.5% for certain cities and counties.
While the idea sounds good, and in principle would be a tiny step in the right direction for taxpayers, the issue leading to its setback is in the details.
SB 10’s fatal flaws are found in several key points:
First, the bill carves out only a very small portion of taxing entities. Only cities and counties with a population over 75,000 would benefit from the new law. With Texas’ over one-thousand taxing entities, that means less than 60 jurisdictions would benefit.
Secondly, the bill does not include many other taxing entities that are a large part of the problem of oppressive taxes: namely school districts and special purpose districts.
Lastly, as TFR has pointed out consistently, the bill does nothing to actually lower property taxes or put Texas on a pathway to property tax elimination. For the few taxing jurisdictions that would fall under the provisions of SB 10, the bill would only slightly slow the growth of the property tax burden, not actually reduce it.
SB 10 also fails to address the crucial issue of local government spending, one of the key drivers of increasing property taxes. The more a government wants to spend, the more they need to tax.
Several conservative House members realized these failures, and demanded that the Legislature step up to the plate and actually deliver real, consequential reforms. The House adopted several amendments to SB 10 on the House floor on August 25th, sending the bill to a conference committee to work out the differences with the Senate. When the bill’s conference committee report returned to the House, all of the House’s amendments had been stripped out.
Tired of passing half-measures and stop-gaps that fail to deliver the relief and reform that taxpayers have been demanding, these conservative members finally put their foot down, and said “no.”
Taxpayers should thank these Representatives for standing up to the status quo, and fighting for actual results:
Daniel Alders, Benjamin Bumgarner, Drew Darby, Mark Dorazio, Brian Harrison, Janis Holt, Andy Hopper, Mitch Little, Janie Lopez, AJ Louderback, David Lowe, Shelley Luther, Don McLaughlin, Brent Money, Matt Morgan, Mike Olcott, Katrina Pierson, Nate Schatzline, Alan Schoolcraft, Joanne Shofner, John Smithee, Tony Tinderholt, Steve Toth, Wes Virdell, Marc LaHood, Keresa Richardson, and J.M. Lozano.
Far from killing the bill outright, SB 10 now goes back to the conference committee, where the Legislature will have an opportunity to improve the bill to actually provide the relief and reform that taxpayers have long deserved.
TFR encourages lawmakers to fulfill this by including two key reforms: ensure that voter approval is required for any property tax levy increase by any taxing entity, and impose common-sense spending-increase limits on all taxing entities using the metric of population growth plus inflation.
Concerned taxpayers should call the Representatives listed above and thank them for their courage and resolve to fight for Texas taxpayers and families, and encourage them to hold their ground.
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