State Republican leaders have been promising to use an unprecedented budget surplus to lower local property taxes, but the details of the relief package are not yet ironed out.
The Texas House will pass a sweeping property-tax relief package this session that includes tighter appraisal caps that apply to all kinds of property, not just homes, Speaker Dade Phelan said Thursday.
House Bill 2 by Dallas Republican Rep. Morgan Meyer also would slash rates on schools’ main property levy, delivering a $461 tax break next year for the owner of a $350,000 home – and $590 in fiscal 2025, Phelan said.
The House “is going to focus on property tax relief in a new way, the likes of which we haven’t seen in many, many decades,” he said at a policy summit sponsored by the conservative think tank the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Under an amendment to the Texas Constitution voters approved in 1997, the appraisal for a home declared as a homestead may not increase more than 10% a year. Phelan said spiraling real estate values make notices of new appraisals traumatic.
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“You get your appraisal, you hold your breath and open it. It’s like getting a letter from the IRS. This is not good news,” he said.
Click here to read more from our partners at The Dallas Morning News on the House's plan.
