TX Bill Would Kill Property Taxes for Married Parents With 10 Kids

Table Of Content

• A Texas Bill Would Offer Huge Tax Breaks to Straight Couples Who Have 10—10!—Kids
• The proposed law, if passed, would only apply to straight couples who have never been married before.
• TX HB2889 2023-2024 88th Legislature
• Bill Text: TX HB2889 2023-2024 88th Legislature Introduced
• Gov. Greg Abbott signs $18 billion tax cut package for Texas property owners

On Saturday, Abbott added his signature to Senate Bill 2, the property tax cuts bill, and Senate Bill 3, a franchise tax relief bill, which were passed by Texas lawmakers two weeks ago after months of negotiations between the state’s top Republicans. AUSTIN, Texas - A controversial bill being proposed at the Texas Capitol aims to give property tax relief to some married couples, based on the number of children they have. But it’s who wouldn’t be eligible for that, same-sex couples and divorcees, that’s raising eyebrows. A Republican Texas legislator has introduced a bill that would eliminate property taxes for married couples that have 10 or more children. And if the widow(er) did remarry, the new spouse would have to adopt that child(ren) for the credit to apply. Wondering whether you’d qualify if you were married once, got divorced, and then remarried and had between four and 10 kids with your new spouse?

A Texas Bill Would Offer Huge Tax Breaks to Straight Couples Who Have 10—10!—Kids

The tax break would go up by 10% for every additional child they have, with couples who have 10 or more children eligible for a full 100% tax break. The package’s marquee item is a $5.3 billion expansion of the state’s homestead exemption, the amount of a home’s value that can’t be taxed to pay for public schools, from $40,000 to $100,000. The new exemption combined with school tax cuts would save homesteaders — Texans who live in a residence they own — an average of $1,300 a year in property taxes, said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, who sponsored the package of legislation in the Senate.

The proposed law, if passed, would only apply to straight couples who have never been married before.

Gonzales voted last year in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which enshrined the right of same-sex and interracial couples to marry. But the bill wouldn't apply to couples who had been previously divorced before their current marriages. The children eligible under the bill would have to either have been born or adopted by the couple after they got married. Qualifying couples would get a 40% property tax reduction if they have four children, those with five kids would get a 50% tax break, and so on. Parents with four kids would qualify for a 40% property tax discount, and it goes up from there.

TX HB2889 2023-2024 88th Legislature

The bills passed during the second special legislative session after both chambers failed to agree during the regular session and first special session. They lauded the $18 billion legislation, which raises homestead exemptions from $40,000 to $100,000, reduces the school tax rate, and eliminates or lowers the franchise tax for small businesses. NEW CANEY, Texas (KTRK) -- The largest tax cut in Texas history is now in the hands of voters. The new bill was also cited by critics who noted the conservative Christian had previously introduced legislation that would close "loopholes" on the medical procedure, including a woman "performing an abortion on herself." On Feb. 28, 2023, claims about a property tax bill proposed in the Texas Legislature began to spread on platforms like Twitter, TikTok, and Reddit.

Social media lit up after Slaton introduced the bill this week, with a poster comparing the draft legislation to "The Handmaid's Tale" and its dystopian rule of forced pregnancies. Learn about The Texas Tribune’s policies, including our partnership with The Trust Project to increase transparency in news. A Texas House bill filed by state Rep. Donna Howard would expand sales tax exemptions in Texas to include baby and menstrual products. "The bottom line, what we see is children do better when they have their mother and their father in the same home with them," said Slaton.

Gov. Greg Abbott signs $18 billion tax cut package for Texas property owners

The bill, which would grant tax credits to straight married couples, wouldn’t apply to couples who have been divorced in the past. The children eligible under the bill would need to have been born or adopted by the couple after they got married, and there would need to be four or more of them before the law would apply. There’s no evidence that the bill is supported by Republicans other than state Rep. Bryan Slaton, who introduced it on Feb. 27, 2023. We found it is true that the bill, Texas House Bill 2889, would give a 100% cut in property taxes to a married couple with 10 kids who meet certain criteria. Starting with four qualified children under the bill, a qualified married couple would be able to get a 40% property tax credit if they had four children.

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House Democrats unsuccessfully tried to push their own versions of tax relief, including a tax-cut package sponsored by Dallas state Rep. John Bryant that would’ve given tenants a cash refund equaling up to 10% of the rent they paid the previous year. It also would have made the homestead exemption $200,000, doubling the exemption in the current bill, and would have included a teacher pay raise and added more school funding. This means that any child who would count for the tax credit under the bill would have to be born or adopted after the couple married. A later section specifies this would be the case regardless whether the child(ren) lived in a separate home from the couple, or the child(ren) had died. Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law property tax cuts that would cut the average homeowner's tax bill by roughly $1,300. Married straight parents with 10 or more children would pay no property taxes.

Property Taxes

The Republican Party of Texas is set to vote this weekend on whether to censure Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) over complaints that Gonzales has failed to uphold party values in Congress by voting with Democrats on issues like same-sex marriage and gun control. The expected state party vote would follow a censure resolution approved earlier this month by the Medina County Republicans in south-central Texas that accuses Gonzales of acting in ways that are antithetical to the party’s value system. Slaton is proposing a bill in the Texas house that would give a tax break to couples based on how many children they have. Register now for our free OneVote public service or GAITS Pro trial account and you can begin tracking this and other legislation, all driven by the real-time data of the LegiScan API. Providing tools allowing you to research pending legislation, stay informed with email alerts, content feeds, and share dynamic reports.

Texas property tax bill excludes divorced, LGBTQ couples from getting relief - The Hill

Texas property tax bill excludes divorced, LGBTQ couples from getting relief.

Posted: Fri, 03 Mar 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

"I come from East Texas. We have biblical values there where we want people to get married, stay married, be fruitful and multiply," said Slaton. The bill's author said its all about encouraging couples to procreate. "This legislation will usher in a new era of appraisal reforms in the state of Texas," Abbott said.

The message from Republicans is that Democrats are going to go to jail for reasons they can’t disclose at this time. It's misleading to claim "Texas Republicans" introduced or backed the bill when there's no evidence anyone other than Rep. Bryan Slaton, the measure's author, supports it. Slaton, who is a Republican, introduced the proposal in the Texas legislature on Feb. 27. Texas voters will have to approve the cuts when they go to the polls on Nov. 7. Critics of the cut believe some of that money should have gone elsewhere - to expand access to healthcare coverage for uninsured Texans or to better fund public education.

The ultra-conservative, a former preacher and gun rights activist, has also introduced legislation that would ban children from drag events, saying in a tweet, "This is disgusting and dangerous. It can't be allowed to continue. My Republican colleagues and I will protect kids from these sickos." Those billions are being sent to school districts so they can cut their taxes for all property owners and shift a portion of their maintenance and operations costs to the state. But the package would give no new funding to schools, a sticking point with critics who note that, compared to other states’ spending, Texas is ranked near the bottom in per-student funding for education. Including more than $5 billion approved four years ago, the legislation also allocates nearly $12.6 billion to reduce the school property tax rate by 10.7 cents per $100 valuation for all homeowners and business properties. At a time when the state has some of the nation’s highest property taxes and lawmakers face massive political pressure to ease the financial suffering of their constituents, the initiative was a cornerstone of Abbott’s 2022 reelection campaign and that of most state lawmakers. Gov. Greg Abbott has signed an $18 billion tax cut for Texas property owners, sending the proposals to voters for their approval later this year.