Republicans in Texas sent a message to their party that they want to remove property taxes in the state, after a vast majority voted yes to a proposition during Tuesday’s primary on whether the state “should eliminate all property taxes without increasing Texans’ overall tax burden.”
Over 77 percent of Texas Republicans agreed with the property tax proposal, as of 11:30 p.m. ET, according to the Texas Secretary of State website.
Texas does not have state property taxes. But local governments do collect some revenue from residents, according to the state comptroller, which goes toward funding social services.
The ballot question, among 13 approved by the State Republican Executive Committee, came amid the electorate in the state approving an $18 billion property tax proposal approved by the Governor Greg Abbott. Cuts in the new law include impacts on the so-called homestead exemption, which raised the value that property owners can erase from their home from $40,000 to $100,000. Other measures included in the Property Tax Relief Act are caps on residential and commercial properties.
But some residents in the state still lament what they say are elevated property taxes in the state.
