Later today, the Texas House is slated to debate a revised property tax relief proposal that, in essence, combines the differing proposals originally passed by the Senate and the House. Brandon Waltens has the details.
Since the beginning of the session, the House and Senate have been at odds on how to deliver property tax relief.
The proposal originally passed by the Senate would increase the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $70,000 and allow seniors or disabled adults to get an additional $30,000. Meanwhile, the House’s original version limited how much the taxable value of a property can increase each year by lowering the appraisal cap from 10 percent to 5 percent. Both versions offered around $12 billion in new property tax relief.
The new House proposal increases the homestead exemption to $100,000 while lowering the appraisal cap to 5 percent. An independent analysis by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility finds $16 billion in new tax relief.
“It’s a great victory for taxpayers everywhere that the House has increased the Senate’s property tax relief package to $16 billion in new relief. They are now about $4 billion away from giving Texas the largest property tax cut in history,” said Tim Hardin, the president of TFR.
While House Speaker Dade Phelan has claimed the plan provides “$21 billion” in property tax relief, Hardin explains that this “fuzzy math” was created by counting previously existing property tax relief passed in 2019.
Any compromise between the House and Senate must move quickly. The legislative session ends on May 29.
