AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The short answer: no. The longer answer: definitely no, at least not anytime in the foreseeable future, and not without sacrificing vital state services like healthcare and education at all levels.
State senators tasked with steering the state’s massive budget gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday to do the math.
Eliminating property taxes would cost the state more than $81 billion per year, they found. The state raises about $47.5 billion per year in discretionary spending. That means the legislature would have to either cut nearly twice that much from the budget or make it up through other taxes — like nearly tripling the sales tax to 22%. Senators signaled both options are nonstarters.
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“That’s foster care, Child Protective Services, Medicaid, Department of Family Services, and a lot of this federally mandated, of course, costs that we have to do,” Senate Finance Chair Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said. “All the money put on higher education, all the money in public education, all the money for Medicaid, all the money for mental health, human trafficking, all the things that the state has made priorities we would not have the funding for. Is that correct?”