Where’s the Beef on Property Tax Reform?
This week I want to revisit a subject we’ve talked about before, but one that deserves another look as we get closer to the next legislative session: property tax reform.
Every election cycle, candidates start talking about property taxes. This year, though, it seems to have moved from being just another issue to one of the biggest issues on the table. That’s understandable. Nobody enjoys opening their tax statement and seeing that number staring back at them.
As a property owner myself, I understand the frustration. Most folks don’t mind paying their fair share, but they do want to know they’re getting value for their tax dollars, and they certainly don’t like seeing tax bills rise year after year.
Now before anybody starts throwing tomatoes, let me say this: I would love to see property taxes reduced, and I’d be thrilled if someday Texas found a way to eliminate them altogether. But there’s a question that nobody seems eager to answer.
What replaces them?
That’s the part of the conversation that often gets skipped over.
Counties, cities, school districts, emergency services, roads, bridges, and a whole host of public services are funded, at least in part, through property taxes. If we’re going to take that revenue source away, then we have to have an honest discussion about where the replacement revenue comes from.
The truth is that government only has a handful of ways to collect revenue. In Texas, if property taxes are substantially reduced or eliminated, we’re likely talking about some combination of higher sales taxes, consumption taxes, value-added taxes, or other revenue mechanisms. There is no magic money tree growing behind the Capitol building in Austin. The dollars have to come from somewhere.
That’s why I sometimes get concerned when I hear grand promises without many details attached to them. Talking about cutting taxes is easy. Explaining how to replace billions of dollars in revenue is a little harder.
My grandfather had a saying for situations like that. He’d say some folks are “all hat and no cattle.” In other words, they’ve got plenty of presentation but not much substance.
As we move toward the November election and the legislative session that begins in January, I encourage everyone to ask questions of the people asking for your vote. Reach out to your legislators, statewide candidates, and public officials. Ask them for specifics. Ask them for details. Ask them how their proposals actually work.
Or, as that famous little lady in the television commercials used to ask back in the 1980s, “Where’s the beef?”
Because when it comes to property tax reform, Texans deserve more than slogans and sound bites. We deserve a real plan. We deserve honest answers. And we deserve a discussion about how to keep our communities functioning while reducing the burden on taxpayers.
At the end of the day, Texans aren’t looking for fancy packaging, yet politicians keep giving us plant-based solutions to meat-and-potato problems.
So, the next time someone tells you they’ve got property taxes all figured out, just smile, tip your hat, and ask the question:
“Where’s the beef?”
