Bill: HB 72, 85(1) - 2017

Committee

House Ways and Means

Vote Recommendation

Vote Recommendation Economic Freedom Property Rights Personal Responsibility Limited Government Individual Liberty
No Neutral Neutral Neutral Negative Neutral

Author(s)

Dwayne Bohac

Bill Caption

Relating to an exemption from ad valorem taxation of the residence homestead of a Purple Heart recipient or the surviving spouse of a Purple Heart recipient.

Fiscal Notes

From LBB: Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB72, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($146,000) through the biennium ending August 31, 2019, contingent upon passage of a constitutional amendment authorizing the exemption. Additionally, the bill would have a negative impact of ($76,087,000) through the biennium ending August 31, 2021. The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.

Bill Analysis

HB 72 would amend the Tax Code to give a total property tax exemption to Purple Heart recipients and surviving spouses if the spouse meet certain conditions. 

Vote Recommendation Notes

Providing tax exemptions for one group over another is a violation of our limited government principle. Special exemptions for preferred classes pick winners and losers in the tax system and shrink the tax base leaving ever fewer people shouldering the full freight of property taxes and making it less likely they will see property tax relief in the future. Our property tax system should be low rate, broad based, and equitable for all taxpayers. 

It is worth noting that so many special tax exemptions have been passed in previous sessions that some counties, particularly those with high populations of military veterans who have been the beneficiaries of many of these exemptions, are now having major budget problems. The unintended consequence of these exemptions has been to crash county budgets so that now those counties are coming to the legislature asking to have their budgets back-filled with state subsidies - essentially requiring other counties to make up for their tax losses. 

For these reasons we oppose HB 72.

Source URL (retrieved on 04/19/2024 01:04 AM): http://reports.texasaction.com/bill/85s1/hb72?print_view=true