Lawmakers moving swiftly to pass property tax relief

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Lawmakers unanimously approved a package of three bills to provide record property tax relief through the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday, clearing the way for much of the legislation to receive approval by the full House and reach the Governor's desk.

Top leaders anticipate the legislature will have finally passed all of their bills by Thursday afternoon.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told Nexstar he expects the measures will receive strong public approval and homeowners will see tax savings as soon as this year.

"It's a long road. We went into the second overtime period. But the truth is no one really has ever done an $18 billion package in the history of the world that I know of for property taxes," Patrick said. "We got to where we needed to get and when the voters vote this November, the constitutional amendment will take effect this year. They will get the savings this year of $1,250 to $1,450."

Those numbers are based on an average home value of about $300,000. Under the plan, homeowners will be able to exempt $100,000 of their primary home's value from property taxes, compared to the current homestead exemption of $40,000. Each school district's tax rate will also drop due to the state backfilling $12 billion of their maintenance and operations expenses.

Every part of the plan is expected to sail through the legislature with near unanimous support. Yet, some Democrats are skeptical of the plan, which they say leaves out key groups of Texans.

"The reported property tax deal between the Speaker of the House and the Lieutenant Governor dumps public education, homeowners, and rental households in favor of tax cuts for refineries, skyscrapers, and big business," State Rep. John Bryant, D-Dallas, said. "Their proposal abandons entirely the 38% of Texas households who rent."

State Rep. Morgan Meyer, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, echoed Lt. Gov. Patrick's sentiments that lower tax rates will force landlords to pass savings on to renters through market forces.

"As taxes have gone up, they've had to increase rent to be able to pay those taxes. Now, we're providing that type of relief, which will then get passed on to renters," he said.

Lt. Gov. Patrick said the House chose to take his chamber's teacher bonuses out of the final deal, but promised teachers would get a pay raise this year.

He said the legislature has $5 billion set aside, in part for teacher pay raises. The Senate will pass those raises when the legislature reconvenes for another special session focusing on education issues. Patrick said that will be in October.

"I believe we will get to them," he said.