Rep eyes tax break for opposite-sex couples
Go forth, multiply, pay no property taxes.
If you’ve got lots of kids, or want them, Rep. Bryan Slaton wants to give you a break. The Royse City Republican is pitching a measure that would slash property taxes for families with four or more children.
Families with a quartet of kids would get a 40 percent cut. Got 10 kids? No property taxes at all.
Married people would catch a deal, too, with a 10 percent tax trim, even if they don’t have kids. But there are caveats. The married couple must be a man and a woman. There is no requirement on how long they have to have been married. They cannot have been divorced.
“With this bill, Texas will start saying to couples, ‘Get married, stay married, and be fruitful and multiply,’ ” Slaton, of Royse City, said in a statement. The state would reimburse the local taxing agencies.
Strong families are the backbone and building blocks of society and families need financial support to help make that happen, he said. The bill has no coauthors or companion bills backed by other legislators, which signals the chances of passage are slim this year.
It is not known how much money this measure could cost the government in lost property tax revenue.
The GOP legislator has often made headlines with his political aims.
House Bill 42 would expand the definition of child abuse to include gender-affirming care for youth. That includes surgeries, medications and mental health services that try “change or affirm a child’s perception of the child’s sex, if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex.”
House Bill 125 would allow the removal of a district or county attorneys if they decline to prosecute alleged election crimes.