Tucking Taxes

In last year's State GOP Primary, 92% of the people supported a referendum for an appraisal cap of 5% or less. Do you think anyone in Austin was paying attention? Perhaps not, as the Legislature prepares to finish this session without lowering the cap.

All is not lost, however, because this week, Freshman Sen. Dan Patrick attached an amendment to HB 438 to lower the cap from 10% to 5%. By the reaction of the other Senators present, you would have thought this was going to hairlip the Governor.

Sen. Rodney Ellis barked on points of order.
Sen. Kirk Watson pleaded for Patrick to pull the piece.

Why all the ruckus?

Because no one wanted to go on the record on the issue...and the voting for HB428 was going to be recorded. No one in the Senate had the stones to reveal their vote against an amendment which so clearly reflected the will of the people.

Now you know who in the Texas Senate stands for homeowners and who does not.
Because of Sen. Patrick’s maneuvering to get a recorded vote, no Senator can go home to his or her constituents and tell them "yea!" for appraisal caps, while at the same time sandbagging them in Austin.

Interestingly, the HB428 passed because everyone was distracted by Patrick's amendment!
It’s a good bill, too, giving some tax relief to you by doing away with the appraisal districts' ability to goose your valuationl by 30% if they happened to skip you for a couple of years.

Now, if they want to stiff you, they have to do it yearly.
Kudos to the Freshman Senator no one thought would amount to much in Austin.