Huffines: 'Texas must end school property taxes'

Texas must end school property taxes, said former state senator and GOP gubernatorial candidate Don Huffines.

“Ending property taxes has been a Republican priority for years, but the Legislature has done nothing to accomplish it," Huffines said. "Texas must end school property taxes and stop cities and counties from continuing their annual assault on our pocketbooks through property taxes."

Considered one of the largest real estate developers in Dallas, Huffines was first elected to the Texas Senate in 2015 and served until 2019. In 2022, Huffines unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott in the GOP primary, according to Ballotpedia.

Huffines has recently converted his campaign for governor into an initiative, the Huffines Liberty Foundation, promoting smaller government and conservative social values. The Austin Journal previously reported that according to the chief economist at Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), property taxes have gone up 181% since 2002, meanwhile 76% of Texans say the  increasing property taxes have been a major burden on them and their families.

Dick Lavine, senior fiscal analyst for the think tank Every Texan, recently told the Austin Journal he thinks it is too early to panic about rapidly rising property taxes, that he understands the alarm bells. According to Lavine, the legislature could reform the system by allowing cities and counties to offer their own flat-dollar homestead exemption and require the disclosure of real estate sales prices to help ensure businesses and industry are paying their fair share of property taxes like homeowners.

Texas does not have a statewide property tax. Instead, each county decides their property tax rate. Analysis from taxease.com shows that Fort Bend County has a property tax rate of 2.23%, which is almost double the national average. There are five counties in Texas that have a property tax rate of 2.09% or higher, which creates a financial burden on homeowners.

KHOU reports that Texas lawmakers will have an extra $27 billion to spend in the upcoming 2023 legislative session. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have made it a goal to cut property taxes in 2023 by using $3 billion in COVID-19 relief funds on funding property tax reduction.

In Houston, 57% of houses in Houston are renter-occupied while just 43% of houses are home-owned, according to rental search website RentCafe.com.