Texas Senate Unanimously Passes Property Tax Relief Proposals – What It Means for Homeowners
March 22, 2023 |
Jeramy Kitchen |
88th Legislative Session, Dan Patrick, Homestead Exemption, Property Tax
https://www.texastaxpayers.com/texas-sen...A&_nhids=OgUwjW

On Wednesday, the Texas Senate unanimously passed all three property tax relief proposals prioritized by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Property Tax Relief ‘Package’

Of the three pieces of legislation considered as a part of the prioritized property tax relief package, Senate Bill 3, authored by Republican State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (Houston), seeks to increase the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $70,000 while also allowing seniors or disabled Texans to deduct an additional $30,000 (so up to $100,000).

Senate Bill 4, also authored by Bettencourt, uses an additional $5.4 billion to provide an additional 7 cents worth of rate compression (amounting to about 74 cents per $100 value by 2025). It also uses an additional $0.4 billion to reduce recapture.

Senate Bill 5, authored by Republican State Sen. Tan Parker (Flower Mound), simultaneously works to exempt the first $25,000 of personal property claimed by a business from the property tax. It also provides a new franchise tax credit of up to 20% of the amount of property taxes paid on the inventory itself.

What Is Next?

The property tax relief package now goes to the Texas House of Representatives. It is unclear whether it will be considered, given that Texas House leadership has prioritized legislation that takes a different approach to property tax relief.

House Bill 2, authored by Republican State Rep. Morgan Meyer (Dallas), recently passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee with the support of 10 of the 11 committee members. The lone nay vote was that of Democrat State Rep. Chris Turner (Grand Prairie). He took to Twitter to explain:-- excerpt, rest at link above --

How Leading Property Tax Relief Proposals Stack Up for Taxpayers
March 21, 2023 |
Jeramy Kitchen |
88th Legislative Session, Appraisal Reform, Budget Surplus, Homestead Exemption, Property Tax
https://www.texastaxpayers.com/how-leadi...9&_nhids=OgUwjW


The 88th Legislative Session is now halfway complete, and legislation seeking to provide property tax relief is starting to move through the legislative process. Both chambers have provided some compression of school district maintenance and operations (M&O) property taxes, which is the best form of relief for everyone. But leadership in the Texas House of Representatives put the rest of the emphasis on appraisal reform, while leadership in the Texas Senate has prioritized increasing the homestead exemption.

Despite having legislation filed to do so, neither legislative chamber seems to have an appetite to take advantage of the historic opportunity to maximize tax relief for Texas taxpayers and put the state on a path to eliminate property taxes altogether, giving taxpayers their right to own property instead of renting from the government.

So, how do the leading proposals stack up?
Texas Senate

In the Texas Senate, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick specified that three of his legislative priorities would be focused on property tax relief. The “legislative package” includes increasing the homestead exemption for school district M&O property taxes, adding compression of school district M&O property taxes, and increasing the business personal property tax credits and exemptions. In total, the Texas Senate has proposed tax relief measures of $16.5 billion. It is important to note that $5.3 billion of that total is to maintain old property tax relief efforts, thereby leaving only $11.2 billion in new tax relief.
Senate Bill 3 – Homestead Exemption Increase

Current law sets the homestead exemption threshold for the appraised value of a home from paying school district M&O property taxes at $40,000. Senate Bill 3 would increase that threshold to $70,000, which purportedly will save taxpayers who qualify for the exemption about $340 per year at rates adopted in 2022. The legislation also allows seniors to deduct an additional $30,000 to $100,000. The author of the bill, Republican State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (Houston), claims that taxpayers would save between $800 and $1,000 over the next two years. These measures are reported to be about $3.9 billion.

What’s the problem? This approach only provides tax relief to those who qualify for the homestead exemption and shifts the burden of paying to other taxpayers. Moreover, inflation can continue to lead to appraisal creep that will eat away at any would-be savings for Texas taxpayers, as the exemption is a fixed amount. This would also disincentivize Texans to move into higher-valued homes when their needs change, as they would not have as much of their tax liability for that home exempted. Texans for Fiscal Responsibility (TFR) recently testified in front of the Senate Finance Committee to this fact.
Senate Bill 4 – Additional Property Tax Relief via Compression

Currently, the average school district M&O property tax rate is about 91 cents for every $100 in value. If left alone, the average rate would be driven down to about 81 cents per $100 in value by the year 2025 (rates are set at the local level) based on previous efforts by the state Legislature. Senate Bill 4, also authored by Sen. Bettencourt, would use $5.4 billion to provide for an additional 7 cents worth of rate compression (about 74 cents per $100 in value by 2025). And there is compression of the maximum compressed rate (MCR) for an amount of $0.4 billion, which could help reduce the Robin Hood effect of redistributing funds from higher-valued districts to lower-valued districts. In total, SB 4 would use $5.9 billion for these measures.-- excerpt, rest at link above --

House to Finally Vote On Legislation, But No GOP Priorities
https://texasscorecard.com/state/house-t...gop-priorities/
When the House begins to vote on these bills, it will be 78 days into the state’s 140-day regular session.
Brandon Waltens | March 23, 2023

More than halfway into the Legislature’s session, the Texas House will finally consider its first set of bills.

None of them, however, are priorities of either the Republican Party of Texas or Gov. Greg Abbott.

Instead, the House Calendars Committee—chaired by State Rep. Dustin Burrows (R–Lubbock)—has approved eight bills for consideration next Tuesday and Wednesday.

The first bill to be voted on by members is legislation to remove the phrase “mentally retarded” from state law, replacing it with the more politically correct “severe intellectual disability.”

The next bill would remove sales tax from tampons, diapers, and other similar products.

Other legislation on the calendars would regulate the use of the phrase “Texas honey,” allow fireworks sales on the Hindu holiday of Diwali, exempt those with mental illnesses from the death penalty, and authorize firefighters to drive patients in non-EMS vehicles.

When the House begins to vote on these bills, it will be 78 days into the state’s 140-day regular session.

The Senate, meanwhile, began passing bills on March 8, almost three weeks earlier.

The full House calendars may be viewed here:
Tuesday, March 28
Wednesday, March 29

Quote: Isailedaway wrote in post #4

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This makes no sense. The Senate unanimously passes legislation but the House may not endorse it at all?

Madness.

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