The $11.6 billion school finance and property tax reform bill is now poised to head to Gov. Greg Abbott.
property taxes
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Texas Legislature 2019
Analysis: Texas legislators had a successful session, but not a historic one
Lawmakers delivered on their promises of school finance and property tax reforms, agreeing to spend $11.6 billion on a combination of education changes and tax cuts. It’s big, but is it really “transformative”?
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Texas Legislature 2019
Teacher raises and all-day pre-K: Here’s what’s in the Texas Legislature’s landmark school finance bill
The $11.6 billion legislation is on a path to the governor’s desk and includes property tax cuts, a hike in per-student funding and money to ease the state’s reliance on the “Robin Hood” program.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Here’s what we know about the Legislature’s final property tax reform bill
The final version of the bill is expected to require cities, counties and emergency service districts to hold an election before raising 3.5% more property tax revenue than the previous year. Community colleges and hospital districts would need to do so at 8%.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Analysis: Texas lawmakers struggling to find a lovable tax
Even in a legislative session that began with estimates of a generous increase in state revenue, lawmakers spent a lot of time talking about big, big tax bills โ all the way to the end.
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Texas Legislature 2019
“People were giving us lip service”: Texas cities’ legislative efforts have struggled this year
When weighing in on issues like property taxes, the main interest group representing cities has encountered skepticism.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Renewable energy proponents brace for last-minute attack on tax breaks for wind and solar
For the past year, an influential conservative think tank has lobbied to make wind and solar projects ineligible for a popular local property tax abatement program. A measure to do that has stalled, but renewable advocates are watching for last-minute changes to other legislation.
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Texas Legislature 2019
TribCast: How did that tax swap fall apart?
On this weekโs TribCast, Aman talks to Ross, Matthew and Shannon about how Texas lawmakers’ plan to raise the sales tax collapsed, why the 2019 session is like the 1997 one and what we’ll be watching out for in the sessionโs final three weeks.
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Texas Legislature 2019
Analysis: No bills are finally dead yet, but some are starting to smell funny
One of the big bills of the session โ a sales- for property-tax swap โ was put on ice this week. Lots of other bills are ready for their post-session burials, too, but keep your eyes open. In the Texas Legislature, dead legislation has a way of coming back to life.
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Texas Legislature 2019
In a surprising turn, Texas House opts to delay consideration of sales tax swap legislation until 2021
Gov. Greg Abbott and other legislative leaders endorsed the sales tax increase, intended to help fund ongoing cuts to school district taxes. But it has been effectively killed this session.
