Governor Abbott says Texas can afford to eliminate school property taxes on homesteads while fully funding education
Governor Greg Abbott is making property tax reform his top priority as he runs for re-election for a record fourth term.
The governor is holding campaign rallies across the state, including in Fort Worth last week and Frisco last month,to talk about his proposals. His plan would limit local government spending growth to population and inflation or 3.5%, the lesser of the two, require two-thirds approval on all local property tax increases, and allow voters to call for a rollback election to lower property taxes.
It will also cap appraisal growth at 3% and appraise all properties once every five years. Abbott is also calling for a constitutional amendment to eliminate school property taxes on homesteads.
When asked about how his plan to eliminate school property taxes on homesteads would pay for schools, Abbott told CBS News Texas the state can cover the costs right now.
"The way we are able to pay for it is through the budget surplus that we run year after year after year," Abbott said. "Our annual surplus exceeds the amount that it would cost for the state to fully fund education. If we implement the cuts that I'm proposing."
Abbott said the state can handle funding under his plan because eliminating school property taxes would only include homesteads and not all property owners.
"There's a huge math difference between the two. But if it just includes a homestead, and if you look at the last four years, we've had far more budget surplus than is needed to make sure we make our schools fully funded. The reason why I use only the last four years is because the two years before that had the two years after Covid, where the states got so much money that the budgets were outsized. I'm using post-Covid money time periods when our budget was plentiful. When you look at our growth trajectory, we're going to have plenty of income to make sure we're going to be able to pay for these property tax cuts," he said.
Abbott insisted the state can do that without raising other taxes.
"No tax that currently exists would need to be increased in order to pay for this," said Abbott.
There are a number of Democrats running for governor. They include Andrew White of Houston, who ran in 2018. He is the son of former Democratic Governor Mark White. State Representative Gina Hinojosa of Austin is also running, as is former Houston Congressman Chris Bell, who was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2006 against Governor Rick Perry.
The Democrats have blasted Abbott's leadership and believe it's time for a change.
When asked why he believes Texans should rehire him for another four years, Abbott said, "There's no state in America that's doing better than Texas is right now. I've been the governor presiding over the best economy in the United States for the past decade. We ranked number one in the most new jobs, number one in opportunity, and number one in growth. And so, economically, Texas is positioned very well. Abbott also cited his efforts to secure the southern border during the Biden administration, reduce fentanyl deaths in Texas, and improve public schools."
