Texas Comptroller Don Huffines called for urgent property tax reform during remarks at the Annual Legal Seminar on Ad Valorem Taxation in San Antonio, telling the audience that rising property tax bills are squeezing Texas families. His office announced the remarks in an Aug. 27 news release.
The release said Huffines used the appearance to outline his office’s efforts to modernize tax administration, increase transparency and strengthen taxpayer protections. Huffines believes rising property taxes represent “the single biggest threat to the continued level of economic success we have experienced over the last decade,” according to the release, which said he pointed to the growing share of monthly mortgage payments consumed by property taxes, insurance premiums and interest costs. For many families, he said, property taxes are now one of the single biggest barriers standing between them and their first home.
Huffines called on local governments to reduce property tax rates, citing rising sales tax revenues as evidence that local entities have room to cut, the release said. The agency reported distributing $1.4 billion in sales tax allocations this month, a 13 percent increase over last year.
“When sales tax collections are climbing that fast, local governments have room to bring property tax rates down,” Huffines said. “Local governments must be more conservative in how they spend, period. Every dollar a city or county council doesn’t spend is a dollar they don’t have to tax away from a homeowner.”
The comptroller affirmed his commitment to working with state leadership to advance meaningful tax relief during the next legislative session, according to the release, which noted that over the last several sessions the state has directed billions of dollars toward compressing school district tax rates and increasing homestead exemptions.
Huffines also said he has already initiated a full performance review of agency operations and launched the Taxpayer First Project, a reform effort aimed at ensuring fair, consistently applied tax rules and more efficient tax administration. He described the project as “the most significant reform of tax administration by a Texas Comptroller in decades,” the release said.
He announced forthcoming performance reviews of school district spending, reiterating that “administrative bloat has no place in the classroom budget” and that dollars should reach teachers and students rather than expand central administration, according to the release.
“Where we find waste, we will report it to the Legislature and to the people of Texas, and we will keep the pressure on until more of every education dollar ends up where it belongs — in the classroom,” Huffines said.