OPINION
Because he is running out of scapegoats, when Greg Abbott announced he was seeking reelection for a fourth term, he declared a new Enemy No. 1 — local governments and local property taxes.
It would be laughable if he wasn’t serious.
It is a very popular theme among state politicians to lay the blame for all the people’s troubles on their local governments, especially their local school districts and high property taxes. The Governor and Lt. Governor do it all the time.
Abbott Campaigns Against A Problem He Created
According to the Texas Tribune, at his reelection announcement Abbott said, “Local governments are hiking your property taxes incessantly. It’s time to drive a stake through the heart of the ability of local property-tax hikes for good.”
Incessantly? I am not sure that word means what Abbott seems to think it means.
The Texas Tribune’s story goes on:
He said voters should be allowed to vote on abolishing school property taxes — the primary source of funding for public schools in the state, and typically the largest portion of homeowners’ tax bills — and that any property tax increases should require two-thirds approval from voters.
He added that Texans should have “the right to rollback property tax rates;” appraisals should take place only once every five years; and that the appraisal cap — the amount the appraised value of a property can increase by year-over-year — should be dropped from 10% to 3%.
High Property Taxes Are A Republican Creation
Abbott and the Republican regime in Austin only have themselves to blame for high property taxes.
They’ve held all the levers of power in this state for thirty-one years. They created the revenue system we now suffer through.
Over the last three decades Texas Republicans established a micromanaged system of state requirements, regulations and unfunded mandates, while they consistently starved local governments, especially independent school districts, of state funding.
They forced more of the responsibilities of state government down to the local level, without appropriating any new revenue for local government. They did this so they can brag about keeping state taxes low.
Then they complain when local government makes the hard decisions and are forced to increase property taxes to provide critical services.
They do all of this while ignoring the fact that Texas has one of the highest tax burdens per capita in the country. The idea that Texas is a low tax state is a lie.
The Bait and Switch
Texas Republicans created the current appraisal system that penalizes appraisal districts if they don’t increase values. Then they complain about the increased property values set according to the very laws they wrote.
State Republicans are the ones who forced property tax values into the stratosphere. Don’t go blaming your local Republican officials for that.
And they created the current economic policy of the state. This sees large swaths of Texas fall behind economically, forcing more of the tax burden onto the backs of homeowners.
State Republicans created the regressive sales-tax system. Sales taxes burden working families while state leaders hoard millions of oil-and-gas severance-tax revenue.
All while continuing to reduce the revenue options available to lessen the property tax burden.
At their urging, we have declared unconstitutional several legitimate methods to raise revenue. Those tools could have been used to help ease the dependence on property taxes. They have limited the state’s options and ability to enact any sort of comprehensive reform of Texas tax system.
They are the ones who have frozen Texas out of creating a tax system for the 21st century. Texas is one of the largest economies in the world. Yet they have doomed us to a tax system as old as the ancient Sumerians, Greeks and Romans.
Forgive me if I don’t believe Abbott is serious about tax relief. He is an unpopular Governor who blames our local school districts in an effort to hold on to power.
Based on our voting history, Texas will likely fall for it again, hook, line and sinker.
What Texas needs is a complete overhaul of its tax system. Until Abbott is willing to do that, he isn’t serious. He is just playing at being Governor.
