Texas Gov. Greg Abbott released a five-point plan to reform the Lone Star State’s property tax system to provide more relief to homeowners.
The Republican governor is making the property tax overhaul a key plank in the platform for his re-election campaign as he seeks a fourth term in office.
Abbott announced the plan Wednesday during a Taxpayer Empowerment event in Houston and said the five-point plan would impose tougher limits on local government spending, while also implementing tighter caps on property appraisals. The plan aims to eventually eliminate school district property taxes on homeowners.
“Texas is the state that’s most on fire in the entire United States of America. If you look at our economy, we’re ranked No. 1 for jobs, No. 1 for economic development, No. 1 for doing business,” Abbott told Fox News Digital. “What our goal is is to make sure we continue to pass policies that keep Texas attractive, and that’s why today I talked about my reforms to make sure we slash property taxes in Texas.”
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The governor’s plan limits the spending growth of local governments to population growth plus inflation or 3.5%, whichever is lower, according to a report by FOX 7 Austin.
Abbott’s proposal would also raise the bar for local property tax increases by requiring the approval of two-thirds of voters for all local property tax hikes before they can be enacted. That would replicate a supermajority requirement for some statewide property tax increases at the local level.
Voters would also have a say in scaling back property taxes that have been enacted, and one pillar of the governor’s five-point property tax plan would allow 15% of voters in a given jurisdiction to sign a petition that puts a rollback on the ballot.
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The plan put forward by Abbott would also reform how appraisals are handled in Texas by requiring that properties undergo an appraisal once every five years instead of annually, which he thinks would make it easier for homeowners to predict their property taxes year-to-year.
His proposal would lower the cap on homestead appraisal increases from 10% per year to 3%, while also applying appraisal caps to all properties, including rental and commercial properties. Under current law, homestead appraisal increases are limited to 10% a year.
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The fifth point in Abbott’s plan would allow voters to weigh in on a constitutional amendment that would eliminate school district property taxes for homeowners, and the state would fully fund public education, a move the governor said would cut property tax bills by half.
The governor plans to push his property tax plans through a statewide campaign as voters take their tax burdens into account ahead of this fall’s election, FOX 7 Austin reported.
Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
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