Corporate Upper Class
Texas homeowners may get property tax relief in the form of higher homestead exemptions in the future.
By a voice vote of all 29 Senators present, the Texas Senate today passed SJR 13 which would allow Texas voters to pass a constitutional amendment in November exempting $22,500 from ad valorem taxation to finance public schools. The current exemption is $15,000.
Before final passage, Senator Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, attempted to increase the exemption to $30,000.
Barrientos reminded the senators during debate on his proposal that it was the lower income and middle-class taxpayers in Texas who needed property tax relief most and would benefit most from increasing the homestead exemption.
"It was those who 'had the most and were represented by lobbyists' who were fighting hardest to defeat fair tax relief proposals that had been offered during the regular and special sessions," Barrientos said.
Senators Barrientos and John Whitmire, D-Houston, both looked to the Senate gallery, and asked, “How many lobbyists ‘for the public’ are there in the gallery? Would you raise your hands?” No hands were raised and Barrientos repeated his call for a $30,000 exemption.
Barrientos provided his colleages with an analysis of the financial impact of raising the exemption to $30,000 on an average priced home in each Senators’ district that showed that the lower the home value, the greater the benefit of raising the exemption.
Senator Mario Gallegos’, D-Houston, District 6, showed the lowest average home value at $61,776. The savings for the average District 6 homeowner from a $30,000, rather than $22,500 exemption, was shown to be $275.84 rather than $191.05.
The average home price in Sen. Barrientos’s Austin District 14 was shown to be the third highest among the 31 senators at $187,960. These homeowners were shown to be $30.37 better off with a $30,000 exemption and would save $493.52 rather than $463.16.
John J. Corona’s, R-Dallas, District 16 was shown to have the highest average home value at $197,828. The tax savings available to his average home owner from a $30,000, rather than $22,500 exemption, was shown to be $493.52 rather than $463.16.
Senator Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, agreed that increasing the homestead exemption was probably a better way to give Texas homeowners property tax relief as the majority of the relief would go to lower and middle income Texans but that a $30,000 exemption could not be paid for this year.
The 29 Senators proceeded to vote to table Barrientos proposal and vote in favor of the $22,500 exemption.
The constitutional amendment, if signed by Governor Perry, would be voted on during the general election November 8, 2005.
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