Property Taxes

I will lower property taxes in the state of Texas.

In the seven years that Abbott has been governor, property taxes have skyrocketed $20 BILLION. Why? It’s simple:

First, Abbott refuses to close the tax loopholes that allow wealthy corporations to manipulate the appraisal process and shift billions upon billions of dollars of their tax burden onto the rest of us. As governor, I will guarantee tax fairness and ensure wealthy corporations pay what they truly owe to reduce property taxes for families and small businesses.

Second, Abbott has consistently mismanaged the state budget and pushed the majority of Texas’ school finance burden onto local taxpayers. While the state government and local school districts used to split the cost of public education 50-50, the state now pays just 40 percent, driving up school property taxes year after year. When I’m governor, the state government will pay what it owes our families in school funding, meaning lower property taxes for all of us.

Third, by refusing to expand Medicaid, Abbott has kept $100 billion of YOUR federal tax dollars from coming back home to Texas to lower your property taxes. As a result, when an uninsured Texan goes to the emergency room, we are forced to foot the bill through the property taxes that we pay to our local hospital districts. When I’m governor, we will finally do the fiscally responsible, commonsense thing and expand Medicaid, reducing the property taxes that we pay to cover indigent care.

Fourth, Abbott has refused to legalize marijuana, meaning we’re still paying property taxes to lock up tens of thousands of Texans a year for the possession of a substance that is legal in much of the rest of the country. When we legalize marijuana, we’ll lower the property taxes that we pay to fund our county jails AND bring in billions of dollars in new state revenue that can be used to buy down school property taxes.

Property taxes are up $20 billion since Abbott took office.

Bottom line: We can provide true property tax relief, uphold Texas’ proud tradition of being a No Income Tax state, and hold the line on sales taxes if we just get smarter about managing the state budget, even the playing field between Texas families and wealthy corporations, and bring in new forms of state revenue by doing commonsense things like expanding Medicaid and legalizing marijuana.