People in Texas and Florida want to get rid of or at least drastically lower property taxes, and the movement is picking up speed. A lot of people, especially those in cities, are hoping that this movement will bring much-needed relief. However, there are a few big problems that are stopping real change from happening. The fight to get rid of property taxes in these two states has become very controversial, but it’s also very hard.
James Quintero of the Texas Public Policy Foundation is one of the most important people in Texas pushing for property tax change. He is also very vocal about how hard it is to get big tax cuts in both states. He says that the way local governments keep spending money hurts the attempts of tax reform at the state level. “We seem to be caught in this cycle,” Quintero says, “where the Texas legislature lowers taxes, only for local governments to raise taxes during the interim.”
The problem starts with the fact that local governments in Texas and Florida often raise their own taxes to make up for state-level efforts to lower property taxes. Because of this, local tax increases cancel out the savings from state-level tax cuts, giving people very little to no real tax relief. It’s especially true in places like Austin, Houston, and Miami, where the cost of living has gone through the roof in recent years and the need for tax reform has grown stronger. As Quintero said, local tax increases tend to happen in cycles.
Quintero says that individual cities and towns will need to be controlled in order for property tax reform to really work. “One of the ways that we could go about doing that is by instituting a local expenditure limit,” he says. This would mean putting limits on how much local governments could spend and, by extension, how much money they could get from property taxes. It is thought that if local governments cut back on spending, local tax rates could stay low and homeowners’ tax bills would not keep going up.
Quintero also suggests that local governments put a limit on how much money they can make. This would stop local governments from raising property taxes above a certain level based on the community’s income. The idea is that until these local governments are stopped from spending too much, any efforts by the state to lower property taxes will be trumped by local tax hikes, making the help useless.
This is not just a problem in Texas. As the push to get rid of property taxes grows in Florida, the state is also facing some of the same problems. Many people in Florida, especially those who live in cities with lots of new people, are worried about how much their local governments are spending and how much their property taxes are going up. The legislatures of both states are run by Republicans, who have generally pushed for lower taxes. However, local governments in both states have continued to find ways to raise taxes, which makes people angry because they think the tax system is still broken.
Property taxes are a big problem for a lot of people, especially those who live in places with high taxes. As home prices go up, so do property taxes, and many people in Texas and Florida are having a hard time keeping up. As home prices and living costs continue to rise, it is more important than ever to push for property tax change.
It’s still not clear, though, whether the present efforts will work. Texas and Florida will both have to figure out a way to meet the needs of property tax change and local governments that need money. It’s likely that this fine line will be a big problem for politicians in the future. It looks like big cuts in property taxes will stay out of reach until local governments are held responsible for how much they spend.
It’s clear that state and local governments will need to work together to make real changes if the movement for property tax reform is to succeed in both states. Without a sound plan to cut back on local spending and stop tax hikes, the dream of getting rid of property taxes in Florida and Texas may stay just that: a dream.
