E-mail about property tax amendments on November ballot said to be untruthful

By ANTHONY SPANGLER

aspangler@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH — State Rep. John Otto is playing defense against an anonymous opponent.

The legislator, who wrote several bills on property tax reform, said he is battling an e-mail campaign against two state constitutional amendments that he says will help fight appraisal creep, a term coined by those who say appraisals are rising too fast, increasing tax bills even though many governments are reducing tax rates or keeping them steady.

Erroneous information about the amendments could undermine legislation that would help protect residential property owners from appraisal creep, said Otto, R-Dayton.

"This thing started about a week ago, but we don’t know who started it or why," said Otto, who wrote the measures, which are up for a vote Nov. 3. "I’m a little miffed that this thing is spreading without anyone checking the accuracy of the e-mails."

The e-mail, which does not identify the author, warns that the amendments are "another back door attempt to increase our taxes." It also suggests that the state will begin taxing property owners.

Texas law prohibits the state from levying a property tax without a constitutional amendment.

John Kennedy, a property tax expert with the nonprofit policy group Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, says the e-mails about Propositions 2 and 3 are "completely and entirely bogus."

"The property tax is the tax that everybody loves to hate," he said. "I’ve never seen anything going to the ballot relating to property taxes that didn’t raise all kinds of fear and concern. So it is a topic that makes for very easy prey to false claims."

Kennedy said he is surprised by how fast the e-mails have traveled across Texas.

"We have not had a significant property tax amendment, other than new exemptions, in the new e-mail/Web era," he said. "But whoever is behind this, the facts are definitely unchecked."

John R. Ratliff, a public relations professional in Ohio, runs breakthechain.org, a Web site dedicated to combating e-mail chain letters.

"Chain letters are not a traditional news media and people should not rely on the information in them or take them at face value," he said. "Anyone can send out an e-mail without ever having to answer to the validity of the information. Some of the problems with sharing information through e-mail is the original author can be hidden, no one has checked the validity of the information and anyone can add information to the e-mail as it’s passed along.

"We’re finally starting to see some of these chain e-mail campaigns find their way into the mainstream media, where people are checking the accuracy of the information and putting an end to inaccurate rumors," he said.

Otto and state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, launched a Web site, appraisalreform.com, this week to provide information on the property tax amendments.