“You could afford your house without the government, if it weren't for the government.” -Rush Limbaugh
By David Erinakes
AUSTIN, Texas (Texas Insider Report) — This can’t go on much longer. How much longer are we going to allow Grandma to be required to rent her paid off home from the Government – especially in these times of inflation and liberal policies we are trying to correct?
The Texas Senate took the lead last session – and this session – to provide some relief, but the perception is that we in Texas can’t do the whole job in keeping property taxes in check while we look at eliminating them all together. That is because we are afraid to cut the inefficient monetary requirements of the Education Industry.To the average Texan, it seems it's always about "more money" – and less about "just enough money" to do the job. Especially regarding schools where more money doesn’t seem to go hand-in-hand with getting our smallest Texans to read at grade level.
That should be Read: More $$$, for No Accountability.
Look at the panic Elon Musk caused when he asked federal workers to say what they did last week and equate it to asking school districts what they did last week to improve reading, writing and arithmetic. Time, I think, to cut money to high dollar administrators and ciriculim writers so that Tax Apprasial’s can be put in check.
Well, when it comes to Apprasial’s, I hate to say I told you so, but when it comes to Properry Tax Apprasials I am on record two years ago bringing to everyone’s attention that the Exemptions offered would be eaten up by increases in Appraisals as School Distrocts are demanding more unaccountable money and it shows. As my neighbor asked,
‘I thought you guys (R’s) lowered property taxes, and my County said they kept the Tax Rate the same, so how are my Taxes higher now?"
My neighbor, like many voters, is waking up to the fact that if you don’t address the Apprasial mess, then voters will be getting those projected higher tax bills by the end of session, legislators phone lines will be burning up, and all the good you are doing like property tax relief, combined with school choice, will be secondary to that high dollar bill.
So once again, I now have the same worry for the Republicans in our Texas State Legislature.
My neighbor, like many voters, is waking up to the fact that if you don’t address the Apprasial mess, then voters will be getting those projected higher tax bills by the end of session, legislators phone lines will be burning up, and all the good you are doing like property tax relief, combined with school choice, will be secondary to that high dollar bill.
So once again, I now have the same worry for the Republicans in our Texas State Legislature.
Yes, you have some good bills, but the language of the bills this session cannot take a Ph.d to understand – and the messaging can’t once again be terrible. Talk about the extra money in the pocket of Texans, not compression and other buzz words. Remember, if the appraisal value on my home went up $200,000 in one year – which it did for many, and will again – what part of Republican's message are Texans going to listen to?
Well, as strange as it sounds, DOGE can help by decreasing bad spending, increasing spending in the classroom, and requiring accountability while working across committees to make this a complete package. The Tax Appraisal Sub-Committee in the House and their own DOGE Committee might be the answer. State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (right) – known for his diligence, integrity and lack of fear of the establishment – has been chosen to lead the new Delivery of Government Efficiency Committee (or DOGE,) in the Texas House. He and others can get this done with his new committee, which is a new legislative committee dedicated to eliminating inefficiencies in state programs through waste elimination and technology modernization.
So what should these committees do? Simply put, could there be a freeze on homeowner's appraisals at 2023 levels – and allow that freeze to be in place for 3 years – and then and then only allow them to increase at the rate of population growth plus inflation.
That’s an idea going back to Governor Rick Perry.
Before you ask... yes, that would mean less money for the various local taxing entities like School Districts, unless they went to the voters who most likely would give them a hard no on a tax rate increase. But that would also mean that for the first time in decades, those local taxing entity's budgets would have to be cut, just as voters have said and told legislators they wanted last November.
Note for the Texas House DOGE Committee: If schools want more money, how about cutting administrative positions and ivory tower office buildings to start. Help them out – because they won’t or don’t know how to cut on their own – and require the funding be spent on rapid increases in reading perhaps.
Critics will immediately jump on this and wring their hands. But – and this is a big but – the optics of legislators continuing to not do anything on the issue of Apprasial’s are terrible, and in politics we all know that perception is reality... especially if you want to show you care about your constituent's concerns and are listening to what they want.
My point is that Republicans simply cannot go home without addressing the issue of appraisals combined with cost cutting that improves outcomes. It’s easy enough to do, so just do it before out-of-control Appraisal Districts simply hike appraisals until they (inevitably) wipe out what property exemption increases are added.
My point is that Republicans simply cannot go home without addressing the issue of appraisals combined with cost cutting that improves outcomes. It’s easy enough to do, so just do it before out-of-control Appraisal Districts simply hike appraisals until they (inevitably) wipe out what property exemption increases are added.
Don’t even listen to complainers who say this would be too much work to do. If legislators were to get this done, Republicans would be heroes for passing one of the most popular bills in modern times and have the added benefit of renters who would be helped because taxes wouldn’t go up and require their rent to go up.
Time, I think, to ask Texas homeowners if addressing this now is what they want. Or if legislators do something else this – with the promise of reforming the appraisal system next session – will the voters in fact be happy?
David Erinakes formerly worked in the Texas Legislature, and is currently Chief Executive Officer of The E Development Companies.
