Taxpayers have their day in Senate Finance Hearing

At today's Texas Senate Finance Committee meeting:

Sen. Williams said, “people don’t participate because they can’t understand it and it is a game which discourages taxpayer participation.

Cheryl Johnson – Galveston County Tax Assessor and Collector:
In 1997, Texas passed a residential property tax cap of 10% which has made a huge difference. What was once a Houston problem has now spread across the state…

Proposed extending the cap to all real property (something Peggy Venable, then with CSE, advocated in 1997).

Another alternative is to move from a market value system to sales tax price only – eliminating the CAD’s moving to this system. This would result in $10 million savings in the Comptroller’s office.

"I agree with TAC – you have made a number of changes in the law encouraging public participation, but many citizens don’t understand. Issuing mandates for more public hearings likely won’t increase public participating."

The representative from the Texas Municipal League:
Prop taxes make up 35% of city budgets, and are the #1 source of revenue and sales taxes make up about 27%. Cities make up just 17% of the homeowners’ property tax bill. (He whined that state aid isn’t given to cities to do their job.) “Our mayors and city managers like that” as it provides grater autonomy to the cities. He said they want “no trickly limits” in their ability to raise our taxes. Regarding transparency and truth in taxation “there may not be much more that we can do” citing Sen. Williams’ SB 18 in ’05, former Rep. Fred Hill's legislation in 2007 and Rep. Dan Gattis in 2011 all passing bills which were intended to increase public participation. (Show me one thing Fred Hill did to help taxpayers!) "If the perception is no one is showing up is because in a lot of cities, citizens trust local officials, and see no need to protest."

David Hartman, president of the Lone Star Foundation
Presented a study done of the 5 largest metro areas in Texas which tracks the increase in property taxes.

Recommendations – outlined his paper’s recommendations which can be found on their paper online: (www.afptx.org or www.LoneStarStrong.com and look under Research tab)

John Kennedy representing the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association of Texas (representing business taxpayers)
The current system does not work. The current system was crafted in the ‘70’s and the effective tax rate notice is how we try to do that now and the newspaper ad is “hiding the forest from the trees” and we want a simplified notice w/3 numbers:
• Show the tax rate levied last year
• The tax rate that would be levied this year to provide the same level of services
• Show them the rate the jurisdiction is proposing to levy.

Some local gov’t s say that is too expensive to go to all taxpayers. Not so, says John. This notice could be put in the newspaper and if they want to find out what it means for their property, apply these 3 tax rates and see what you paid last year, what you would pay this year with no expansion of the budget, and

The bill passed the House and got on a local calendar, but the TAC objected and Rep. Charlie Howard who sponsored it said that he would not pursue it in the Senate if TAC objected (shame on Howard!!!) The bill was not considered in the Senate. It needs to be passed next session!

Joe Stewart – Texas Association of Realtors
Representing the realtors of Texas wants to allow HB 8 to “work for us” to audit all appraisal districts, and the work is in motion now.

HB 1221, Charlie Howard’s bill would have created a new calculation would have created an even playing field. It would have created a new calculation – same services tax rate. It would give taxpayers info on what tax rate would bring in the same tax revenue. It would have provided transparency and is important to us.

No similar bill was introduced in the Senate. It was discussed that Rep. Charlie Howard didn’t want a hearing in the Senate.


Sen. Williams – plenty of us would be willing to “spot” local governments that money could not overcome the objections of the Texas Association of Counties and the Texas Municipal League. That is my recollection of it.

Lots of bills have been filed…we did spot some of the property tax growth to the local taxing entity – they need to be able to capture that” but there are plenty of us are willing to spot them the growth in their property tax rolls and exclude that from the rollback calculation

“That is not satisfactory…they (local government groups Texas Association of Counties and Texas Municipal League) want to get their hooks in that other money…it is boundless…the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” – Sen. Williams