End the Property Tax Now – Stop Renting Our Homes from the Government
Embedded in our Declaration of Independence are three inalienable rights: the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These rights are so precious and God-given that the best that our government can do is to protect and guarantee them. The pursuit of happiness relates to our economic rights. Central to our rights in a free market economy is the right to own property.
In Texas, the right to own land is rooted in our culture. The promise of land ownership motivated the first settlers to immigrate to our state and the dream of homeownership still inspires Texans today. Every Texan desires to say, “Welcome to my home.” Nevertheless, we have a property tax system that undermines this fundamental right. Is it right, after paying off your mortgage, contributing to your community, and rearing your kids in that community to face the possibility of having to move, or just lose your home because you cannot pay escalating property taxes while on fixed income in your retirement years? In principle, as long as this burdensome property tax system stays in place, no Texan truly owns their home or has any property of any kind.
If I am honored to serve the citizens in State House District 12, I will fight to end property taxes and go to a broad-based sales tax. When that happens, East Texans will no longer have to worry about the government confiscating their land because they could not pay a property tax. Overnight, we will eliminate the property tax bureaucracy of almost 4,000 local governments. Immediately, we put the unelected appraisal districts, which have become backdoor taxing entities, out of business.
Recently, the Texas Public Policy Foundation asked the highly respected Arduin, Laffer, & Moore Econometrics, LLC to conduct a study about this reform. A broad-based sales tax at 9 percent, which taxes all services that are taxed in at least one other state, would be revenue neutral or in other words, it would raise the same amount of money for state and local governments as the current property tax system raises today. A newly adjusted rate of 12.5 percent that taxes the sale of property would generate the same amount. If we kept our current sales tax exemptions for food and medicine, but broadened it, we would still be at a sales tax rate between 9-12.5 percent.
Ending the property tax would result in the personal wealth of the Lone Star State increasing by as much as $3.3 billion in the first year and $52 billion over a five-year period. A wealthier society means job growth. Abolishing the property tax would lead to the creation of 127,000-312,000 jobs over five years
Most importantly, ending the property tax is about personal liberty. If you have to pay a tax on it, you never own it. Right now, we indefinitely rent from the government. Let’s end the property tax now.
