AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texans voted to approve Proposition 4 which will increase the homestead tax exemption and provide property tax relief, according to Associated Press projections.
With 40% of the vote reported, 84% voted in favor of the proposition.
The changes will apply to the 2023 tax bills due in January.
Proposition 4, stemming from H.J.R 2 from the 2nd special session this year, will:
- Raise the general school district homestead exemption to $100,000
- Allow legislature to set a cap on annual appraised-value increase for non-homestead real property
- Ensure appropriations for property tax relief does not count towards the constitutional spending limit
- Allow legislature to set four-year terms for members of an appraisal entity’s governing body in counties with 75,000+ residents
Background
Efforts to make this property tax relief exemption possible took months to formulate in the legislature earlier this year.
Three hours after the end of the 88th regular session, Abbott immediately called a special session to address property tax and border security.
However, no bills made it to Gov. Abbott’s desk by the end of the first special session. The lack of progress had to do with the division between the Texas House and Senate.
On the first day of the first special session, the House passed Abbott’s preferred property tax and border security bills leaving the Senate with only two options: take it or leave it.
In the following 30 days, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stood firmly on the Senate’s promise to Texans to raise the homestead exemption — the amount of a home’s value that taxpayers can write off from their tax bill.
With no progress made, Abbott called a second special session around the end of June, this time to focus solely on property tax relief.
An agreement on property tax relief bills SB 2 and SB 3 made it to Abbott’s desk and signed into law successfully in late July. The property tax relief bills signed by Abbott are an $18 billion tax cut for Texas property owners.
