Bill Text: TX HB2889 2023-2024 88th Legislature Introduced

Table Of Content

• Senate committee
• Controversial Texas bill aims to give property tax relief to straight married couples with kids
• Latest from our reporters
• Texas Legislative Guide
• New $18B tax cut legislation - touted by GOP as largest in Texas history - signed by Gov. Abbott
• Harris County day cares could soon see big tax breaks

Gonzales voted last year in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which enshrined the right of same-sex and interracial couples to marry. But the bill wouldn't apply to couples who had been previously divorced before their current marriages. The children eligible under the bill would have to either have been born or adopted by the couple after they got married. Qualifying couples would get a 40% property tax reduction if they have four children, those with five kids would get a 50% tax break, and so on. Parents with four kids would qualify for a 40% property tax discount, and it goes up from there.

Senate committee

Use our new PolitiCorps to join with friends and collegaues to monitor & discuss bills through the process.Monitor Legislation or view this same bill number from multiple sessions or take advantage of our national legislative search. At a time when the state has some of the nation’s highest property taxes, the initiative was a cornerstone of his 2022 reelection campaign. On TikTok, one video said of the bill, "If you have, no joke, 10 kids, you can get 100% reduction in your property taxes." Targeted tax relief for the state’s 3.7 million renter households has been left out of proposals that have passed both chambers. The most novel part of the plan, an idea introduced publicly for the first time on Monday, is a first-ever temporary 20% cap on appraisal increases for properties valued at $5 million or lower that aren’t considered homesteads.

Controversial Texas bill aims to give property tax relief to straight married couples with kids

The ultra-conservative, a former preacher and gun rights activist, has also introduced legislation that would ban children from drag events, saying in a tweet, "This is disgusting and dangerous. It can't be allowed to continue. My Republican colleagues and I will protect kids from these sickos." Those billions are being sent to school districts so they can cut their taxes for all property owners and shift a portion of their maintenance and operations costs to the state. But the package would give no new funding to schools, a sticking point with critics who note that, compared to other states’ spending, Texas is ranked near the bottom in per-student funding for education. Including more than $5 billion approved four years ago, the legislation also allocates nearly $12.6 billion to reduce the school property tax rate by 10.7 cents per $100 valuation for all homeowners and business properties. At a time when the state has some of the nation’s highest property taxes and lawmakers face massive political pressure to ease the financial suffering of their constituents, the initiative was a cornerstone of Abbott’s 2022 reelection campaign and that of most state lawmakers. Gov. Greg Abbott has signed an $18 billion tax cut for Texas property owners, sending the proposals to voters for their approval later this year.

Latest from our reporters

The bill, which would grant tax credits to straight married couples, wouldn’t apply to couples who have been divorced in the past. The children eligible under the bill would need to have been born or adopted by the couple after they got married, and there would need to be four or more of them before the law would apply. There’s no evidence that the bill is supported by Republicans other than state Rep. Bryan Slaton, who introduced it on Feb. 27, 2023. We found it is true that the bill, Texas House Bill 2889, would give a 100% cut in property taxes to a married couple with 10 kids who meet certain criteria. Starting with four qualified children under the bill, a qualified married couple would be able to get a 40% property tax credit if they had four children.

Texas House passes property tax relief bill that was passed by the Senate - FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth

Texas House passes property tax relief bill that was passed by the Senate.

Posted: Thu, 13 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Those would include second homes, vacation properties, rental houses or commercial retail or business properties. “With this bill, Texas will start saying to couples, ‘Get married, stay married, and be fruitful and multiply,’” Slaton, who we assume thinks The Handmaid’s Tale is something to aspire to, said in a statement. It also offers additional cuts for seniors and property owners with disabilities, averaging about $170 more in savings per year, Bettencourt said. FOX 7 Austin reporter John Krinjak asked Slaton why he decided to limit the scope to heterosexual couples who haven’t been divorced. In order to qualify, the couple must be a man and a woman legally married to each other, neither of whom has ever been divorced.

Texas Legislative Guide

The tax break would go up by 10% for every additional child they have, with couples who have 10 or more children eligible for a full 100% tax break. The package’s marquee item is a $5.3 billion expansion of the state’s homestead exemption, the amount of a home’s value that can’t be taxed to pay for public schools, from $40,000 to $100,000. The new exemption combined with school tax cuts would save homesteaders — Texans who live in a residence they own — an average of $1,300 a year in property taxes, said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, who sponsored the package of legislation in the Senate.

The message from Republicans is that Democrats are going to go to jail for reasons they can’t disclose at this time. It's misleading to claim "Texas Republicans" introduced or backed the bill when there's no evidence anyone other than Rep. Bryan Slaton, the measure's author, supports it. Slaton, who is a Republican, introduced the proposal in the Texas legislature on Feb. 27. Texas voters will have to approve the cuts when they go to the polls on Nov. 7. Critics of the cut believe some of that money should have gone elsewhere - to expand access to healthcare coverage for uninsured Texans or to better fund public education.

The bills passed during the second special legislative session after both chambers failed to agree during the regular session and first special session. They lauded the $18 billion legislation, which raises homestead exemptions from $40,000 to $100,000, reduces the school tax rate, and eliminates or lowers the franchise tax for small businesses. NEW CANEY, Texas (KTRK) -- The largest tax cut in Texas history is now in the hands of voters. The new bill was also cited by critics who noted the conservative Christian had previously introduced legislation that would close "loopholes" on the medical procedure, including a woman "performing an abortion on herself." On Feb. 28, 2023, claims about a property tax bill proposed in the Texas Legislature began to spread on platforms like Twitter, TikTok, and Reddit.

Harris County day cares could soon see big tax breaks

Social media lit up after Slaton introduced the bill this week, with a poster comparing the draft legislation to "The Handmaid's Tale" and its dystopian rule of forced pregnancies. Learn about The Texas Tribune’s policies, including our partnership with The Trust Project to increase transparency in news. A Texas House bill filed by state Rep. Donna Howard would expand sales tax exemptions in Texas to include baby and menstrual products. "The bottom line, what we see is children do better when they have their mother and their father in the same home with them," said Slaton.

"I come from East Texas. We have biblical values there where we want people to get married, stay married, be fruitful and multiply," said Slaton. The bill's author said its all about encouraging couples to procreate. "This legislation will usher in a new era of appraisal reforms in the state of Texas," Abbott said.

"These monumental accomplishments were achieved because of the lieutenant governor (Dan Patrick) and the Speaker (of the House, Dade Phelan) working together and the House and Senate coming together to ensure Texans the tax relief they desperately deserve." A third measure, House Joint Resolution 2, will go before voters in a constitutional election in November. Voters would need to approve the package for the cuts to take effect this year.