AUSTIN — State Senator Royce West today (Wednesday 3/22/23) applauded the Texas Senate’s unanimous passage of Senate Bill 4, which will provide additional maintenance and operations tax rate compression for independent school district property tax rates and result in additional property tax savings for taxpayers. Under legislation passed in 2019, the Legislature capped the rate of increase of school property taxes and agreed to make good on the amount school districts lose in tax collections.

“The Senate is working to lower property tax rates, reduce the number of school districts that are subject to recapture, increase the homestead exemption and reduce the business personal property tax burden that Texas businesses face,” Senator West said. “This is the most significant bipartisan effort so far this session on property tax relief, but I think we can still do more.

“With the record surpluses we have, I think we must look at more avenues to lower taxes,” said Senator West. “A reduction in sales tax, which I hope to do with Senate Bill 1000, is one way that we can provide further relief to taxpayers,” he noted.

Senator West said he is examining both a half percent reduction in the sales tax, and also the possibility of an additional sales tax holiday for taxpayers.

“We have a couple of options on the table right now, and we’re running final calculations to determine which will give Texas taxpayers the best relief,” Senator West said.

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