The Largest Property-Tax Cut? Really?

It is likely that you have been told that our Texas Legislature has passed the “Largest property-tax cut in Texas history.” You will be told this by the legislators in person and through several mailers patting themselves on the back for the great job they did for you. It took them a special session to get anything done, but they did eventually pass property-tax relief. However, this was not exactly the historic moment your legislator would like for you to believe, and the tax relief was only part of the story.

Where’s the Other $20 Billion?

The 88th legislative session started off with 33 billion dollars of surplus funds. This means that we the Texas taxpayers had been over taxed by 33 billion dollars. When you are overcharged by a business, the proper resolution is for that money to be returned to you. Unfortunately, your government, would rather spend it growing more government. It was clear from the start of the session that the 33 billion was burning a hole in some legislators’ pockets. You have likely heard the number 18 billion when your legislator tells you how much tax relief they “gave” you. However, that number includes 5.7 billion that was allocated from a previous session. So out of the 33 billion surplus, only around 12 billion of the surplus was actually used for property-tax relief.

The Largest Budget Increase (all your $) in Texas History

No one can tell you where exactly the other 20 billion dollars went, but there was the largest budget increase in Texas history when the biannual budget was passed. This amounted to a 30% increase of over 50 billion dollars, yet, our legislators advertise that this was a “conservative budget.” So I am not sure how on earth you would consider growing government by 30% to be conservative; rather, this is the budget of tax-and-spend liberals. They spent the maximum amount they could per the Texas Constitution; however, that was not enough. So they approved several amendments to the Texas Constitution, which allow them to go above the Constitutional budget restrictions. (Hence, we recommend vote NO on all but two.)

Constitutional Amendments ~ How They Take the $12 Billion Back

Oh, and how about that 12 billion of our money that they gave us back in tax relief? Currently we are voting on 14 constitutional amendments that were approved by the legislature. These typically pass most of the time, and they know this. So what is the price tag for these amendments? If they all pass, which is likely, it will cost you over 13 billion dollars in new spending. So, of that 33 billion dollar surplus, they gave you 12 billion in tax relief, and now they want that back for other things. There is nothing conservative about this budget.

Short-Lived Tax Relief Equals Long-Lived Future Tax Increase

There will be some temporary tax relief as a result of what was demanded from the legislature, but this will be short lived unless spending limits are imposed. If this were really a conservative budget, someone could tell us what part of government was cut, instead of growing government by over 30%. This is nothing more than the smoke and mirrors that we are used to getting from the Texas Legislature. Hopefully, we can help git rid of those who are perpetuating the problem and elect real conservatives, and get rid of the party-confused Republicans.