Good morning,

With the economic effects of the Chinese Coronavirus shutdowns affecting millions of Texans, now is the time for governments across the state to cut taxes.

– Brandon Waltens

Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Modify your email preferences.

• Since government-mandated shutdowns have shuttered much of the Texas economy over the past two months, over two million Texans have found themselves unemployed. Many more have seen their own personal financial situations be negatively affected.

• As local governments and taxing entities across Texas begin the process of setting their budgets and tax rates—a process theone thing is certain: Texans desperately need tax relief now.

• Last week, a grassroots coalition made up of 226 conservative grassroots political leaders representing 210 unique organizations, precincts, and districts, signed onto a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott with a simple message: “Tax relief is needed NOW to alleviate the burdens on families, empower entrepreneurs, and enable employers to further engineer the economic recovery Texans need, want, and deserve.”

• Such relief can be accomplished through increases in the homestead exemption, requiring local taxing jurisdictions to compress their tax rates, and reducing the sales tax and franchise tax. 

• Abbott's response to the grassroots letter was silence...while publicly and loudly issuing a response to a letter from Democrat legislators on property tax burdens the next day.  

• In 2019, the Texas Legislature passed legislation making it harder for taxing entities—such as cities and counties—to increase their property tax revenue above 3.5 percent without voter approval. School districts were capped, in a separate bill, at 2.5 percent.

• However, there is already talk amongst some local officials of using the coronavirus to exploit an exemption for disasters lawmakers included in the bill. If allowed to use the loophole, cities and counties could increase property tax revenue up to 8 percent without voter approval, while taxpayers continue to suffer.

• True tax relief must:
  • 1) deliver measurable results 
  • 2) benefit every Texas taxpayer
  • 3) provide lasting relief for years to come

• If Texans' average tax burden is higher now than it was the year before, then Republican legislators have failed every single Texan. For two decades they have promised property tax relief, and for two decades they have failed to deliver.

• And if your elected officials try to claim they can't afford to cut spending in order to provide tax relief to their constituents, it's time to replace them.

• We discussed this issue last week live with Cary Cheshire of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, JoAnn Fleming of Grassroots America–We The People, and Fran Rhodes from True Texas Project  during a Grassroots Virtual Town Hall on Tax Relief. If you missed it live, you can catch it here. 

Your Federal & State Lawmakers