» Watson’s tax-relief bill dies amid Democrats’ stalling,
It dies as Democrats use strategy to stall out Republican proposals.
After securing the support of the Capitol’s most powerful Republicans, Austin state Sen. Kirk Watson could only watch as fellow Democrats sacrificed his tax-relief legislation as part of an effort to stall out other proposals.
House Democrats spent Tuesday “chubbing,” or using procedural tactics to delay votes on Republican legislation until the deadline for them had passed. That strategy also claimed Senate Bill 279, a proposal that would have given cities and counties the ability to channel property-tax relief to the owners of smaller, less-valuable homes.
The idea is one that Austin’s liberal political establishment has sought for years, only to see it die many times without a hearing. Watson worked in a series of compromises that appealed to tea party populists and even appeared to mollify some of the state’s business lobby, which had mobilized against the proposal.
“My legislation cleared the Texas Senate, won the support of Gov. (Greg) Abbott and was well positioned to pass in the House, until two partisan and controversial bills were placed ahead of it” on the last day for voting on some types of legislation, Watson said in a written statement. “I’m optimistic that we can come back in two years and pass this leg- islation.”
The proposal would have required Texas voters to approve it in November. For Austin residents, its passage would have removed one of the political obstacles that prior City Councils have said prevented a robust homestead exemption, which is a property tax break for people who own their homes.
Much of the current council has pledged to support a homestead exemption. With Watson’s proposal unavailable for at least the next few years, “We can’t wait for new tools ... to combat rising unaf- fordability in our city,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said.
As state law now stands, a city or county can give its homeowners up to a 20 percent discount on the taxable value of their property. Travis County has had such an exemption in place for years.
Under the current setup, Travis County now shaves a little more than $90 off what it charges the owner of a $100,000 home. The owner of a $1 million home saves a little more than $900.
Watson and Austin state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez wanted to offer cities and coun- ties the option of offering a flat exemption. Under their proposal, the owners of both a $100,000 home and a $1 million home would see the same amount of savings, if a city or county chose that option.
Watson’s proposal would have phased in the flat homestead exemption, taking some political sting out of the argument that people now with a large exemption would stand to lose it, with their taxes shooting up as a result.