TEXAS, USA — Property owners across East Texas will be seeing money going back into their pockets with the property tax relief bill. This will help homeowners save several hundred dollars per year.
The Texas Legislature reached a property tax deal which is the biggest in the state's history.
The property tax relief bill will reduce school property tax rates, increase the homestead exemption and include relief for small businesses.
The homestead exemption will increase from 40,000 dollars to 100,000 dollars, which means homeowners could save up to 1,200 dollars per year. That’s a substantial reduction on monthly payments
"If the property's value went up 25% in one year, you'd only have to pay taxes on 20% of that increase," said chief appraiser for Gregg county Mark Cormier.
State representative Matt Schaeffer said businesses that pay franchise tax will also get an exemption.
"If your revenue is less than $2.7 million, you will not have to file a franchise tax report or owe any franchise taxes in the state of Texas," Schaeffer said.
Schaeffer said the state has taken a meaningful step forward, however it’s really up to the cities and counties to hold the line on property taxes.
"They are receiving large amounts of tax revenue from sales taxes. In fact, they're seeing double digit increases in that month over month. So hopefully they will use the sales taxes to keep property taxes low," Schaeffer said.
Cormier said in his 22 years of experience, this year’s property valuation is the biggest increase he’s seen and this relief is much needed.
"I'm glad to see that there's this type of change. I mean, and that 60,000 extra dollars or exemption is just huge," Cormier said.
Schaeffer noted that the state has collected a surplus amount of money.
"That money belongs to the taxpayers, I personally think that the overall amount of property tax relief should have been bigger. But this is a good step," Schaeffer said.
Governor Abbott said he will be signing this property tax relief bill into law this week.