Bill Caption

Proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of all or part of the market value of the residence homestead of a Purple Heart recipient or the surviving spouse of a Purple Heart recipient.

Fiscal Notes

From LBB: The resolution alone would have no fiscal implication to the State, other than the cost of publication. Any additional fiscal implication would be attributable to the corresponding enabling legislation. The cost to the State for publication of the resolution is $114,369. 

Bill Analysis

HJR 20 proposes a constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to exempt all or part of the property tax on the residence homestead of a Purple Heart recipient or the surviving spouse of a Purple Heart recipient provided certain qualifications are met. 

Vote Recommendation Notes

We oppose this legislation which violates the principle of limited government by creating a targeted tax break for a special class of property owners rather than offering broad based tax relief for all property owners. This also violates the property rights of other property tax payers who are left to shoulder the tax burden with diminishing prospects to gain tax relief themselves. We support tax policy that is broad based, low rate, and fair to all taxpayers. Targeted tax relief, in addition to being unfair to the out of favor groups who do not benefit from it, ultimately creates negative but foreseeable unintended consequences. For these reasons we oppose HJR 20.