On Thursday, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 4, a measure that would increase the homestead exemption for Texas property owners from $100,000 to $140 thousand dollars. Reducing property taxes is a priority issue for Gov. Greg Abbott this legislative session. As The Texas Newsroom’s Blaise Gainey reports, the homestead exemption proposal now moves to the Texas House for consideration.
The exemption reduces how much of a home’s value owners can be taxed on. Since Texas has no income tax, increasing this is one of the few effective ways lawmakers can provide tax relief to residents.
One concern? Taking that property tax money away could hurt school districts which receive a nice portion of that cash. But University of Houston Political Scientist Brandon Rottinghaus says Texas legislators keep that in mind.
ROTTINGHAUS: “Basically, any taxation lost at the school district level the state will make up in general revenue.”
To cover that loss in property tax revenue, the state will have to send billions to school districts to fill in the gap. I’m Blaise Gainey, in Austin.
