One of the governor's emergency items gets moving.
The bill in question is Senate Bill 2.
- Days after heated meeting, Texas Senate property tax committee passes 2.5-percent rollback rate bill.
The Texas Senate’s new Property Tax Committee on Monday moved with breakneck speed to advance a controversial proposal on one of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s top legislative priorities: slowing property tax growth.
In a 4-0 vote, the committee passed an amended version of Senate Bill 2, a complex bill that would further limit the amount local governments like cities, counties, school districts and special districts can spend without voters stepping in. (All four Republicans on the panel voted for the bill, while Democrat Juan "Chuy" Hinojosawas present but didn't vote.)
SB 2 would require an election when local governments want to collect an additional 2.5 percent or more in tax revenues from existing properties, regardless of the total taxable values assigned to properties. The cap limits the amount of total revenue a local government can rake in without voter approval, even if its tax rate is not increased.
- Analysis: The challenge of reining in property taxes at no cost to schools.
The Texas Senate’s property tax fervor shouldn’t come as a surprise. That’s where state-imposed limits on local tax increases got traction two years ago, and the leaders there — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Paul Bettencourt, who replaced Patrick in the Senate — were both flying the property tax flag for years before they were elected to state office.
Voters want cuts. Texas, with no income tax to lean on, had the 13th-highest per capita property taxes in the country in fiscal year 2015 and the 9th-highest per capita sales taxes, according to the Tax Foundation. That outfit also ranks Texas 46th among the states for overall state-and-local tax burden, a fact that doesn’t seem to do much to temper the outrage.
No surprise here: The property tax activist at the head of the Texas Senate appointed a Committee on Property Tax that reflects his activism, with four Republicans and one Democrat. Texans will find out in a matter of weeks whether the full Senate is willing to go along with what the committee appears certain to approve as early as Monday.
