An effort to overhaul the county revenue system in Texas didn't get very far in the 2015 Texas Legislature. Lonnie Hunt, a former Houston County judge and current County Relations Officer for the Texas Association of Counties, says that he understands the frustration with the high property taxes that fund county budgets. However, he also points out that Texans pay more in sales taxes than in property taxes.
Audio transcript:
Mark Haslett: This last session of the Texas Legislature could be remembered as much for what didn’t happen as what did occur. Divisive struggles were few as unpopular bills died in committee while many others passed by wide margins in the Republican-dominated chambers. County tax policy is one area where changes to the system were minor. The big rules governing county revenue stayed in place, despite some early rumblings about overhaul. Many in the Texas Association of Counties breathed a sigh of relief when lawmakers packed up and left Austin. Lonnie Hunt with the Texas Association of Counties says that his organization had his eye on one bill that would have put a lid on how much counties could raise.
Lonnie Hunt: Senate Bill 182 would have lowered that eight percent cap to four percent.
Haslett: The cap Hunt is referring to is the limit on how much money counties can raise from one year to the next. Current law says that annually, counties can take in up to eight percent more than they did the year before. Senate Bill 182 would have cut that amount in half – limiting counties to a four percent increase.
Hunt: And it would have created an automatic rollback election if you exceeded the four percent. Whereas now, the law says if you exceed eight percent, citizens can petition to have a rollback election, but under Senate Bill 182, it would have been an automatic rollback election. Well that in itself costs a lot of money – to have an election. That’s just another unfunded mandate coming down whether the citizens want an election or not. But that bill got a highly publicized hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, and it never came out of committee.
Haslett: Senate Bill 182 was sponsored by Houston-area state Sen. Paul Bettancourt, who now represents Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s old district, and by state Sen. Don Huffines, a Greenville native whose District 16 includes most of northern Dallas County, including North Dallas and the Park Cities. Texas does not have a state income tax and Texas also chooses to deliver many state services through the counties, which are part of state government. Those reasons contribute to property taxes in Texas being high. Hunt admits that property taxes are unpopular – and says that many county officials whose budgets depend on property taxes are themselves property owners – who loathe high tax rates just as much as the next property owner.
Hall: There’s a cry from people for tax relief, no question about that. I think the one thing that stirs people more than anything else is that annual property tax statement. Because in reality, people pay much, much more in sales taxes and other taxes and fees than property taxes. But they get that property tax bill one time a year, and often, the school tax and the city tax and other special district taxes are included on the same bill with their county taxes, and so, you know – it just, it stirs people up.
Haslett: The list of services provided by counties in Texas is long. From law enforcement to record keeping to road construction and maintenance to administration of the state courts system – the daily lives of Texans are intertwined with the work done by the counties. And while the state itself and cities take in much of their revenue from sales taxes, only about half of the counties in Texas have a local sales tax, and those who do tax, do so at a low rate. So whether one like the status quo or thinks an overhaul is long overdue, the current county tax system will remain in place – at least until the next legislative session.
Raw audio: Hunt compares sales tax and property tax numbers in Collin, Hopkins, Hunt County and Rockwall County.
