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Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is appearing in a television ad touting property tax cuts and drawing criticism from Democrats.
In the ad, Abbott names local property tax reductions a top campaign goal as he seeks reelection to a fourth term to potentially become the longest serving governor in Texas history.
"Number 1 is to slash your property taxes, whereas the Democrats, they want to increase your taxes," the governor says in the television ad, airing frequently as Election Day approaches on Nov. 3.
But the Democratic nominee for governor, State Representative Gina Hinojosa of McAllen, questioned why the governor has not acted already to cut taxes.
"Greg Abbott has had 12 years to lower Texans' property taxes and is lying that he's going to tackle (the issue) with less than two months until the election," she said in a statement to Texas Public Radio, which looked into the merits of the ad.
"His plan, like his terrible ad, makes no sense. Texans need real relief. As governor, I'll reduce property taxes by eliminating billions of taxpayer dollars Abbott has given to his corporate donors that have undermined our economy, our schools, and working families," the statement said.
Precinct 2 Democratic Bexar County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, a former state representative, did not respond directly to the governor's ad, but earlier this month, he said the county spends a lot of local property taxes on state mandates to which the state attaches little or no funding. In other words, the state orders local programs or services to be implemented, and then we pay for it locally — with property taxes.
"85% of our general fund appropriations has legislatively directed services or necessary support costs, so that's significant." Rodriguez said during budget talks among county commissioners at the courthouse.
The largest portion of local property tax bills are for schools. The state and federal government combined pay about one-half of local education costs, while local property taxpayers must pay for the other half, according to the organization, Raise Your Hand Texas, a public schools advocacy group. To be more exact, 47.7% of school funding is paid for locally, 38.6% is funded by the state, and 13.7% is funded by the federal government.
If the state wanted to reduce local property taxes, the Texas Legislature could increase state education funding to local school districts.
The governor's ads come as property tax rates are making headlines across Texas.
Many local cities and counties are having to increase property taxes to balance their local budgets, drawing the ire of voters. Those increases are largely not because of mismanaged or excessive local government spending but because of a decline in property values as the real estate market cools in parts of Texas. And having fewer newly constructed homes and businesses to tax translates into a smaller local property tax base.
Lower property values mean lower property tax collections by local governments, which in turn have to boost their property tax rates to make up the difference to maintain the same level of services. The San Antonio City Council voted to hike property taxes by around 3.9% to fund its next year's fiscal budget. Bexar County commissioners voted to keep their property tax rate the same, but they had to dip into $68 million of surplus funds to balance the budget and maintain basic services.
More than one county commissioner warned of more belt-tightening ahead to balance the county budget. And Rodriguez said voters may have to decide on a property tax increase at the polls in 2027.
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