As with his grinding, successful effort to implement a private school voucher-style plan, Abbott is trying to retool an institutional practice involving the funding of necessary services largely provided by local jurisdictions.
Though many people complain that property taxes are too high, conservatives have been unable to push through policies that mitigate the ability of local taxing authorities to lean on property taxes to fund services.
Abbott has complained that the money lawmakers have provided for property tax relief — including $51 billion over the next two years — is offset by rising property taxes levied by local governments and soaring property appraisals.
“Right now it is far too easy for local governments to impose higher taxes on Texans without their approval,” Abbott said during a campaign stop last week in Temple. “Next session we will overhaul the property tax system to give Texans the power to stop local governments from hiking your property taxes, putting more money back into the pockets of hardworking Texans.”
The governor is trying a multi-pronged approach to boost his plan.
He’s lining up support with Republican allies in the Texas Legislature. And he’s making property tax relief an issue in the Republican primaries, where many of his allies are favored to win or have light competition.
Abbott is also working to flip Democratic seats in the Legislature from blue to red. That worked in the 2024 elections, when his push for school choice was aided by Republicans flipping two seats in the Texas House and one in the Senate.
Picking off Democrats is important to Abbott’s success because they currently have the votes to block aspects of his plan that require constitutional amendments. It takes 100 votes in the House and 21 in the Senate to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. For the 89th Legislature, the House had 88 Republicans and 62 Democrats. There were 20 Republicans and 11 Democrats in the Senate.
“We’ve already started and we’re hearing good responses from legislators,” said Dave Carney, Abbott’s chief political strategist. “We’re going around the state and feel like we have strong support. The idea would be by the time the legislative session comes, a majority will be in place to get some real things done.”
Abbott, who kicked off his reelection campaign last week in Houston, faces no major opposition in the March 3 Republican primary. Democrats vying to challenge him in the November general election include state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin, Houston businessman Andrew White, former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell of Houston and Quitman rancher Bobby Cole.
His property tax overhaul proposal would:
- Cap the growth of property appraisals at 3%. Abbott’s plan “would expand that cap to all properties, which would help renters and businesses” and keep housing affordable and require properties to be appraised once every five years for “fewer surprises” and “more peace of mind for Texas families and businesses.”
- Require two-thirds approval from voters on all property tax increases.
- Limit local spending to a formula based on population plus inflation or 3.5%, whichever is less.
- Empower voters to roll back property tax rates through referendums. If 15% of registered voters in a local area file a petition to roll back tax rates, an election on the matter would be held.
- Allow voters to eliminate property taxes levied by school districts.
“People are getting crushed with the appraisal creep, the monkey business of trying to do the maximum tax increase,” Carney said, adding that some jurisdictions were more prudent than others. “You just have these people [raising] property taxes to the maximum allowed, where they don’t need to vote…it’s unjust and unsustainable.”
Opponents, especially those trying to protect local municipalities’ power to control their tax policy, are preparing for a fight.
And there are still questions about how to replace the revenue local districts get from property taxes. That question isn’t answered in Abbott’s plan.
“I’d be very interested to learn how he’s going to pay for that,” said Democratic state Rep. Chris Turner.
Carney shot back that authorities have had to deal with changes in the homestead exemption the last two sessions that led to a loss in property tax revenue. He insisted most Texans, including renters dreaming of buying their first home, want lower property taxes.
“There’s lots of people who enjoy a complicated tax process, and there’s a lot more people who live off this local government spending,” Carney said of the opposition. “It’s going to be on par with the school choice fight… this issue dwarfs every other issue out there, so we’re going to try to build consensus on these common sense ideas.”
There are some opportunities for a bipartisan approach to Abbott’s plan.
White, Abbott’s potential opponent in the general election, agrees with the governor’s proposal to cap appraisal increases at 3% a year.
“Greg and I, it turns out, agree on one thing,” White told reporters last week while rolling out his own comprehensive plan for Texas. “You can’t buy a house and then watch the valuation go up 10% a year every year.”
White is against Abbott’s proposal to eliminate property taxes levied by independent school districts.
If there were reliable funding sources for schools, including more money from the state budget, many Democrats could embrace much of the plan.
Still, some question whether abolishing school property taxes would lead to hikes in sales taxes, which critics say would adversely affect low-income residents.
Texas does not have an income tax, and developing one is a nonstarter in the Lone Star State.
If Abbott is successful, the push for property tax relief will enter another phase.
Many conservatives want all property taxes abolished, so the drive to remove school district taxes could just be the tipping point.
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