Texas voters approved a pair of constitutional amendments designed to provide property tax relief to homeowners.
KXAN reports an election night victory for Proposition 11, which increases homestead property tax exemptions for elderly and disabled owners from $10,000 to $60,000 of the market value of a homestead, and for Proposition 13, which increases exemptions from school district property taxes from $100,000 to $140,000 of the market value of a homestead. Texas law classifies homesteads as either an urban, rural, or business homestead.
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), the author of both bills, heralded the election returns by stating, “These measures will provide much-needed school property tax cuts statewide for Texas taxpayers.”
Bettencourt’s office estimated the new amendments will save 5.7 million Texas homeowners about $484 per year, as well as $907 per year for over 2 million seniors, and $2,500 per year for small businesses. But opponents to the measure argued they would create a $3 billion loss in revenues for schools.
“When you start shaving away at the property tax over and over again, it just puts a greater reliance on the sales tax,” said Chandra Villanueva, director of budget and policy at the advocacy group Every Texan. “The sales tax is our most regressive tax and it’s the most volatile.”
Maybe school boards should quit building monuments to themselves, indoor swimming pools and massive atheletic stadiums and concentrate on making sure that their schools are teaching the students “the old 3Rs..”
Agree! Quit paying worthless admin staff, DEI hires, incompetent teachers & go back to basics!
Since toll roads were suppose to be a contributor to schools, should consider looking at revenue received from heavily used toll roads.