State Rep. Toni Rose (D-Dallas), whose district includes parts of Dallas such as Oak Cliff and Pleasant Grove, says her constituents want property tax relief regardless of whether it takes the form of compression or appraisal caps.
“They just want property tax relief,” she recently said on WFAA’s Inside Texas Politics. “Their main concern in District 110 is just that they get some kind of relief.”
Rep. Rose said she does not know what the outcome of the property tax debate between the House and Senate will be.
“We have 30 days to figure that out,” the Democrat lawmaker continued. “Hopefully, we’ll get it done. The good thing is everyone wants property tax relief for Texans, and so we’ll just have to put the work in to make sure it’s done.”
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the first special legislative session ended without the two chambers of the Texas Legislature reaching a compromise on how to achieve property tax relief, prompting Governor Greg Abbott to call a second special session which began last Tuesday.
Abbott called on state lawmakers to pass legislation to “cut property tax rates solely by reducing the school district maximum compressed tax rate in order to provide lasting property-tax relief for Texas taxpayers.”
Throughout the regular legislative session, both the House and Senate agreed on cutting property taxes but disagreed on how to achieve that goal.
The Texas Senate has supported using appraisal caps, while Governor Abbott and the Texas House have fought to use compression.
“The Special Session #1 agenda was limited to the only solution that both chambers agreed on — school property tax rate cuts,” Abbott’s statement continued. “After yet another month without the House and Senate sending a bill to my desk to cut property taxes, I am once again putting the agreed upon school district property tax rate cuts on the special session agenda.”
Furthermore, the governor called on lawmakers to pass legislation to “put Texas on a pathway to eliminate school district maintenance and operations property taxes.”
However, Rep. Rose said she is doubtful this will actually happen.
“That’s why we’re gonna study the issue — to see if it is possible,” she explained. “I don’t see it happening any time soon, but it’s good to look at it and see.”
“It will be good to really do a deep dive into the issue to see if we can come up with some sound solutions for more relief,” she continued. “But I doubt that it will be able to be eliminated.”
Property tax relief has become a popular talking point among not only the governor and state legislators but local officials as well.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson has continued to tout property tax relief as one of his highest priorities — something he reiterated in his inauguration speech on June 20, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
