Texans: Need property tax relief? This lawmaker says his plan would help
A Fort Worth lawmaker wants to help Texas property owners with their tax burden.
State Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, proposes letting county leaders across the state hike their sales tax by 1 percent — if officials and voters alike agree — and in turn lower county property taxes by the amount generated from that sales tax increase.
“This would reduce property taxes,” said Geren, who filed House Bill 705. “This is not a reform. It’s a reduction.”
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said he would like to consider using this option if it becomes law.
It could be a financial boon to the area, he said, because of high tourism attractions such as Six Flags, AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Park in Arlington.
“In Tarrant County, we do have these entertainment venues that bring people in not only from all over the Metroplex, but really from all over the state and all over the county,” Whitley said.
So why not let those people help pay down Tarrant County’s tax bills?
“Right now with property taxes, only the people who own property in Tarrant County are paying it,” Whitley said. “If it’s sales tax, we’ve got a lot of money coming in from people outside of Tarrant County.”
But the reduction in a homeowner’s property tax bill would likely be small. Less than 10 percent of the property taxes on $200,000 home in the city of Fort Worth went to Tarrant County in 2018. School taxes are by far the biggest part of property tax bills, accounting for about half of the total. In some districts, it’s even more.
Texas lawmakers have made clear that two of their top issues this year are addressing skyrocketing property taxes that threaten to tax some Texans out of their homes and finding a more equitable way to fund public schools that doesn’t put quite the pinch on homeowners.
Geren said he believes this proposal can help communities across the state.
If it becomes law, the proposal would let county commissioners decide if this is an option they’d like to use. If so, they would need to vote to increase their countywide sales tax by 1 cent. In return, the county would reduce property taxes by the amount generated.
But that would only happen if voters in impacted areas approved a one-cent hike in their countywide sales tax.
There is no countywide sales tax in Tarrant. If approved in Tarrant, this would create a new tax.
Early estimates show a 1 cent sales tax could reduce Tarrant County’s portion of the property tax bill by more than 60 percent — or between $320 million and $360 million, Geren said.
Anderson County Judge Robert Johnston, who heads the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas, said this is an option he’d like to consider in his East Texas county.
The association has passed a resolution supporting such a measure.
“I think that a lot of rural counties would exercise this option,” Johnston said. “It gives us another source of income that will go directly toward reducing property taxes.
“It just helps relieve people who pay property taxes,” he said.
This story was originally published January 28, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
