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With campaign season underway, Governor Greg Abbott has been pushing his new property tax plan, hoping to address an issue that has been a key factor in affordability in Texas for the last several years.
Naturally, many are asking what’s different about the now three-term governor’s new plan. James Quintero with the Texas Public Policy Foundation explained that “the governor’s tax plan marries tax relief with tax reform. That’s a very important development.”
According to Quintero, one of the main reasons previous years’ property tax relief efforts haven’t had much effect is that as the state compresses rates, local jurisdictions like cities, counties, and school districts simply jack them up higher to cover more and more spending.
He says this new plan will get right to the heart of that issue by “instituting a local government spending limit [and] put[ting] reasonable boundaries on how fast local budgets can grow.”
The other big question about these new reforms is whether they’ll even be able to pass through the Texas Legislature when it meets again in 2027. Quintero thinks the answer is yes. “Lawmakers are frustrated with the status quo,” he said. “They come to Austin to lower the tax burden on the everyday family, and those actions are being frustrated at the local level.”