AFP supports SB 700 and HB 1575 and you should as well

Write Senator Eltiffe and Representative Hughes and let them know you support SB 700 and HB 1575. As a taxpayer it is in your best interest to support bills such as these.

For Texas taxpayers, SB 700 by Sen. Dan Patrick and HB 1575 by Rep. Carl Isett are probably the most important bills this legislature will consider.

Though legislators worked hard to provide billions in property tax relief, and though school property taxes were lowered, property taxpayers’ perception is that they didn’t see the relief.
Why? Local taxing entities either raised tax rates or – more often – allowed the appraisal process to provide them with additional revenue.

Local taxing entities and their lobby organizations will be opposing any legislation which provides opportunity for taxpayers to determine just how much government we want and are willing to pay for. That is unfortunate.

For the past several sessions, the Texas Municipal League and the Texas Association of Counties have clearly laid out their legislative agendas – they consistently say they don’t want any legislation which limits their ability to raise revenue.Some of the arguments you will hear from local government officials and their lobbyists:

Fiction: This should be a local issue. Voters elect their city council members and county commissioners and they are responsible for the tax rates. If taxpayers were unhappy with them, these officials would not be re-elected.
Fact: Too many local officials will run for re-election claiming they “didn’t raise taxes” when they actually didn’t raise the tax RATE but didn’t need to do so to collect more revenue. The appraisal increases allowed the local taxing entity to get more revenue from the individual taxpayer. Moreover, true local control should rest with the taxpayers, not the tax-spenders.

Fiction: Any attempt to “limit revenue” would harm local governments.
Fact: No proposal we have seen would unilaterally limit revenue. The rollback provision is a trigger which would require local officials to “make their case” to the taxpayers (i.e. - their constituents) and voters would have the opportunity to determine whether they agree with their officials that more money is needed.

Fiction: Taxpayers would not approve tax increases. (Yes, the Texas Association of Counties president actually used this argument in a Senate hearing last session.)
Fact: Taxpayers have been extremely generous when asked. Bond initiatives pass at a rate of 75-85%. Rollback elections are slightly less successful. Texas taxpayers are generous and if the local officials can justify why they need the additional spending, it will likely be approved. If not, then the local government entity should tighten their belt, and re-assess their priorities just like taxpayers are doing across the state and the nation.

Fiction: Local government growth is driven by new development.
Fact: Local government has grown four times faster than Texans’ paychecks. (Local government debt has grown five times faster!) Texas is a fast-growth state, but growth cannot account for the rapid increase in local government spending. In fact, that growth was factored into the analysis as newcomers’ income was factored into the analysis.

Fiction: Rollback elections are expensive.
Fact: We are always amazed when taxing entities use the argument that an election is expensive, so they are saving tax payers money by not asking them before digging deeper into taxpayers’ pockets. If rollback elections are expensive (and they should be held on a uniform election date to encourage greater participation), then local government should not increase the tax revenue above the rollback rate.

Fiction: Citizens should be required to petition for a roll-back election
Fact: The petition-gathering process should be eliminated. It is cumbersome and some elections don’t garner participation by 10% of the registered voters. Taxpayers deserve an automatic roll-back election. Currently, taxpayers have few tools to control local government growth; whereas, government has many tools to “educate” the public on the vote – using taxpayer dollars. Taxpayers who want to participate in the process and oppose the increase must not only pay for governments’ “education campaign” but their own education/advocacy efforts.

Fiction: 5% rollback rate is too low. That rate is generally more generous than the increase in population and inflation.
Fact: The rollback rate was 5% in the mid-1980’s and was increased to 8% when the rate of inflation was higher. It is appropriate to return to 5% now.

Fiction: The rollback election does not allow taxing entities to plan.
Fact: Taxing entities can plan to spend under the rollback rate and have a supplement budget prepared for the additional revenue, should the rollback election fail.

In addition to the changes to the effective tax rate and rollback, we support the bills’ provisions for:

• An electronic filing for a protest of an appraisal for a county that has 500,000 or more people.
• Late applications for a homestead exemption.
• Appraisals based on the current designation or use of the property and not the highest and best potential use of the property.
• Improving the notice of appraisal by requiring the chief appraiser to give an annual notice to each homeowner stating the current appraised value of the property and the difference, either positive or negative, for the previous tax year

Source: AFP - Texas