Governor Greg Abbott called another special session in July, promising to tackle the property tax crisis that has been bleeding Texas homeowners dry for years. But if you look past the political rhetoric and examine the actual proposals, it becomes clear we’re witnessing the same old song and dance that has failed Texans repeatedly.
The numbers don’t lie. Since Abbott took office in 2015, property tax collections have exploded by 75 percent while population growth and inflation combined account for only 44 percent of that increase. This means our property taxes have risen 70 percent faster than our ability to pay them. We’re being systematically priced out of our own homes, and Abbott’s response is to tinker around the edges while the house burns down.
Bond Madness Is Bankrupting Texas
The real driver of this crisis isn’t some mysterious force — it’s the spending addiction of local governments across our state. Texas school districts alone hold over $202 billion in outstanding debt. That’s $33,542 for every student in the state. When you add up all local government debt, we’re looking at nearly half a trillion dollars that will be paid through property taxes.
In 2024, local governments held 639 bond elections, approving $72.8 billion in new debt. These elections are deliberately scheduled during low-turnout periods in May when the fix is easier to put in. We’ve seen billion-dollar bond packages pass by fewer than 500 votes, saddling entire communities with decades of debt service.
The system is rigged. Local officials can spend with impunity because they know property owners have no choice but to pay or lose their homes. It’s the perfect scam — politicians get to play Santa Claus with other people’s money while homeowners get stuck with the bill.
Abbott’s Gimmicks Aren’t Working
Despite spending $51 billion on property tax “relief” since 2019, total property tax levies still climbed 6.6 percent to $87 billion in 2024. Abbott can brag all he wants about his 18 percent reduction in average homeowner bills, but appraisals keep skyrocketing and local governments keep spending. It’s like trying to empty a bathtub while someone else keeps turning up the faucet.
The Governor’s latest proposals — dropping voter approval thresholds from 3.5 percent to 2.5 percent — are more of the same incremental changes that sound good in press releases but don’t address the fundamental problem. As economist Vance Ginn correctly noted, these measures allow taxes to double every 28 years while rewarding the spending addiction that got us into this mess.
The Austin Problem
What we’re witnessing is the inevitable result of a political system that insulates decision-makers from the consequences of their actions. Austin politicians can grandstand about property tax relief while the real power remains with local officials who face no meaningful constraints on their spending.
The current system creates perverse incentives. Local officials get credit for approving popular projects while the cost gets spread across thousands of property owners who individually lack the political power to fight back. Meanwhile, state politicians like Abbott get to position themselves as taxpayer advocates while doing nothing to meaningfully constrain the spending that drives the problem.
Texas Deserves Better
Property taxes are nothing more than “perpetual rent” on property you supposedly own. They turn every Texan into a tenant of the government, subject to eviction if we can’t keep up with ever-increasing tribute payments to fund the spending wishes of politicians and bureaucrats.
Real property tax relief requires real solutions, not political theater. Short of total elimination of property taxes, that means caps on spending, not just revenue. It means requiring bond elections to be held during general elections when more people vote, not during low-turnout May elections designed to favor special interests. It means eliminating the loopholes that allow local governments to circumvent existing limitations.
Most importantly, it means having leaders who understand that government exists to serve the people, not the other way around.
The property tax crisis reveals a deeper problem with how we’re governed. When politicians can spend without meaningful constraints and homeowners have no real recourse except to hope for relief from the same system that created the problem, something is fundamentally broken.
Texans built this state through hard work and self-reliance. We deserve a government that reflects those values, not one that treats us like an ATM for every pet project that catches a politician’s fancy.
Until we have leaders willing to implement real solutions instead of election-year gimmicks, Texas homeowners will continue to get fleeced by a system that socializes the benefits of government spending while privatizing the costs through property taxes.
The people of Texas deserve leaders who will fight for them, not politicians who offer band-aids for problems that require surgery.
“The property tax crisis reveals a deeper problem with how we’re governed.” It reveals an even deeper problem in that people consider themselves governed at all. I don’t need “governing.” I need the government to get out of my face. Its sole job is to protect us from people who want to be ruled and who elect politicians who want to rule. At the root of that impulse is the conviction that human beings are the means to each other’s ends. They are not. Every man is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. Only when people start from that premise, apply it consistently, and refuse to deviate from it will any government do its only legitimate job: protecting individual rights. “He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” –Thomas Paine