(The Center Square) – Property tax relief is again a top priority of the next legislative session and the 2026 election in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott has already announced his plan, and now Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has announced his. Both are running for reelection next year.
In the last several sessions, the state legislature has passed property tax reform bills that both Abbott and Patrick claimed were “historic” and homeowners would see the “largest property tax decrease ever.”
Texans have only seen property taxes go up every year.
Texas has the seventh-highest property taxes in the country, based on 2023 data, according to an analysis by the Tax Foundation.
Property taxes remain a top concern of voters who blame the legislature and state and local leaders for lip service as local government taxes increase and state and local government spending increases every year.
Abbott proposed a sweeping property tax reform plan last month. It includes restraining local governments, implementing additional property appraisal caps, and eliminating the school district property tax altogether, including through a constitutional amendment, The Center Square reported.
Under Abbott’s plan, businesses would still pay school property taxes but homeowners eventually wouldn’t. State surplus funds would offset the cost. In recent years, Texas reports double digit billion-dollar surpluses each year. Fiscal hawks have long called for the legislature to return the surplus to taxpayers. Instead, it’s chosen to spend the bulk of it.
Patrick announced his property tax relief plan at a press conference Tuesday in Austin. As with his previous plans, which haven’t reduced property taxes, Patrick again said his priority is to increase the homestead exemption.
This includes lowering the senior homestead exemption age from 65 to 55 and increasing the standard homestead exemption to $180,000 from $140,000.
“That means for an extra 10 years, from 55 to 65, your values are frozen. You don’t ever have to worry about appraisals anymore,” he said.
Patrick has made similar claims in previous years. Every year, property taxes go up.
Past homestead exemption increases haven’t offset increasing appraisal and property tax increases, critics argue. If they had, there would be no need to keep proposing property tax reforms every year as property taxes keep going up.
Patrick remains resolute in the approach.
Roughly half of Texas’ 6.1 million homeowners are over age 55; the median homeowner age is 58, he said.
The median home price is $332,000; 39% of homeowners live in a home valued at $300,000 or less, he said.
A homestead exemption lowers the taxable value of a home. By continuing to lower the taxable value, Patrick argues homeowners will owe less.
“We have about 6.1 million homeowners in Texas; 3.3 million homeowners will have their tax values frozen and their taxes will continue to go down. They won’t even have an issue with the appraisal,” he said.
He says his plan “really goes to the middle class, even the upper middle class. We’re going to eliminate your school property taxes faster.”
Dubbed “Operation Double Nickel,” Patrick says his plan also includes restrictions on local governments’ taxing capabilities. “You have to allow our cities and counties to breathe and grow, because the Texas miracle is about growth,” Patrick said. “We have to build schools, we have to get police officers raises, we have to build infrastructure. But the message to our local governments is, ‘You need to be responsible with how you spend your money.’”
Abbott has proposed revamping the appraisal process by requiring all properties to be appraised only once every five years and capping appraisal growth at 3% for all properties, including rental and business properties. Currently, state law only limits appraisal value growth of homestead properties to 10% every year.
Patrick argues the appraisal cap would eventually increase property taxes and restrict people from moving and not selling their homes. He also argues using the surplus isn’t a sustainable long-term plan because Texas can’t rely on surpluses in an economic downturn.
In order to “get rid of all property taxes,” he said the state sales tax would need to be increased to at least 25 cents for every dollar spent. “I don’t think that’s realistic,” he said.
Both Abbott’s and Patrick’s plans would be proposed during the 2027 legislative session. The Texas legislature convenes every two years.
