Texas Will Provide Homeowners Tax Relief, But It’ll Cost Them

On May 7, 2022, Texans voted overwhelmingly in favor of Propositions 1 and 2 to lower their property taxes. These plans will put more of the public school cost burden on the government by increasing the amount homeowners can deduct from the appraised value of their houses, known as the homestead exemption.

The propositions will save an average homeowner nearly $200 per year. Propositions 1 and 2 seem like major bipartisan wins for the state government, but it’s not that simple. Republican senators expect sales taxes to make up for the cost of these new deductions, a regressive solution that could completely offset any benefit for the middle class.

Proposition 1. As a response to rapidly increasing home values, in 2019, lawmakers lowered property tax rates. This law had somewhat of a clerical error, though, not considering elderly or disabled people who has been qualified to cap and freeze their rates. Proposition 1 intends to make up for said error by supplementarily decreasing their rates.