Dear Neighbor,
A year ago, the only tax increase Democrats were pushing would have tripled the limit on the growth of property-tax rates. Because that bill stood alone, the news media focused on it — which helped to fuel the public outrage that eventually forced Democrats to drop the idea.
This year our Democratic colleagues are pushing a truckload of tax hikes. The news media seem to be distracted by some that aren’t as familiar, like the so-called “wealth” tax. The new efforts to raise your property taxes seem to be flying below their radar, and the public’s, even though we’re talking about $16 BILLION over the next 10 years!
Fortunately, reports like this and social media are helping to get the word out. That’s why the Senate Democrats’ property-tax bill (SB 5798) attracted a record amount of online opposition prior to the public hearing.
Property taxes = housing taxes
It’s easy to overlook how a property-tax hike affects rent prices — but because it would, we really should view these as housing taxes. I’ve also focused my new video report on the Democrats’ housing taxes, and hope you can take a few minutes to watch it (see below — and keep reading for how the public will be shut out of the budgeting process).
Governor Ferguson hasn’t come out against the proposed housing-tax increases, although he should. Those are regressive taxes, and he told reporters this week that our state’s tax code is too regressive already. I will oppose any effort to lift or get rid of the 1% cap on annual property-tax rate increases, because local governments already have the power to go above 1%. It just means asking permission from the affected property owners, at the ballot.
The governor did vow to veto any budget that relies heavily on the wealth tax. He had warned the Senate and House Democrats about that months ago, and they did it anyway.
He also provided what amounts to a checklist for budget writers: protect the state’s rainy-day fund, minimize new spending, maximize savings, and so on. I would expect the Democrats will take the governor’s guidance to heart, if they don’t want a budget veto — but then again, they apparently failed to heed the warnings Governor Ferguson had sent about the wealth tax.
Click here or on the image to view my report.
Goodbye, transparency; public to be shut out
There is more than enough time for Democrats to do all the necessary budget revisions out in the open. We do it all the time on other legislation, when differences between the Senate and House positions need to be settled.
Our Democratic colleagues have chosen to shut the public out by invoking the rule that basically lets selected legislators go behind closed doors to cut a deal. In this case, the operating-budget leaders from each chamber — four Democrats — will meet out of public view over the next few weeks and decide how to allocate nearly $80 BILLION in taxpayer dollars.
They will emerge with a new deal that won’t go through the public-hearing process, and can’t be amended. All we’ll be allowed to do is vote yes or no.
This unnecessary lack of transparency certainly won’t increase the public’s trust in government. If there’s a saving grace to all this, it’s that Democrats can’t vote secretly on whatever tax increases they end up pushing as funding for their final budget.
Capital-budget vote coming Saturday
The Senate will adopt its version of the capital budget tomorrow, during another one of our Saturday sessions. This is the budget that funds the construction and maintenance of state buildings, public-school matching grants, higher-education facilities, public lands, parks, water infrastructure and other assets.
Once the House follows suit, the task of reconciling differences between the two versions will begin, to produce a final budget.
While the work of settling differences between versions of the operating budget is moving into the proverbial back room, I can assure you that won’t happen with the capital budget. More details to come!
***
I am working to make living in our state more affordable, make our communities safer, uphold our paramount duty to provide for schools, and hold state government accountable. I’ll work with anyone who shares those goals and wants to find solutions.
Please reach out to my office with your thoughts, ideas and concerns on matters of importance to you. I am here to serve and look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
