Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is trying to deliver on his pledge to ease the tax burden for homeowners in Texas.
During his State of the State address, Abbott identified seven emergency items for state legislators to give top priority to, and a property tax cut – one of the planks of Abbott’s campaign platform – tops the list.
“Hardworking Texans produced the largest surplus in Texas history. That money belongs to you, the taxpayers. We should return it to you, the largest property tax cut in the history of Texas,” Abbott said Thursday in his address. “We’ve all proposed using $15 billion to cut property taxes, now we must ensure that it provides lasting property tax relief.”
The Texas Constitution states that the Legislature normally cannot act on bills and resolutions within the first 60 days (the 88th Legislature started on Jan. 10), but by tagging it as an emergency issue, Abbott is giving the Legislature the green light to take expedient action on finding a solution. Now lawmakers can move forward on property tax cut legislation.
Abbott has tweeted before about giving the largest property tax cut in history to Texans, including in January when he posted: “I want to provide Texans with the largest property tax cut in the history of our state.”
For Abbott to make good on that promise, the Legislature would need to deliver a property tax cut of about $20 billion when adjusted for inflation from 2009 dollars.
According to Tax-Rates.org, Texas has the third-highest median property tax rates in the nation, about double that of Florida and 2.5 times that of California.