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Home :: Voters :: Constitutional Amendment
RESULTS: Constitutional Amendment: Prop 1- To provide school tax relief to elderly or disabled taxpayers (SJR 13)
In Favor............................. 87.70 %
Against............................. 12.30%
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*The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan political organization which encourages active and informed participation in government. It does not support or oppose a candidate or a political party.
May 12th Constitutional Amendment Election - SJR 13
Ballot Language:
“The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for a reduction of the limitation on the total amount of ad valorem taxes that may be imposed for public school purposes on the residence homesteads of the elderly or disabled to reflect any reduction in the rate of those taxes for the 2006 and 2007 tax years.”
League of Women Voters Summary & Pro/Con Arguments:
Currently under Texas law, homeowners who are 65 years of age or older, or who have a disability, are eligible to receive a ceiling on the amount of public school ad valorem taxes (school property taxes) they will owe on their residence homestead based on the amount they owed the year they qualified for the ceiling.
When the 79th Legislature passed school property tax cuts in their 3rd Called Session in 2006, those elderly and disabled Texans whose school property taxes were already frozen did not receive a corresponding reduction in their school property taxes. Therefore, in order for elderly and disabled Texans to receive a proportional reduction in school property taxes, there must be an allowance for such a reduction in the Texas Constitution and a statutory change in law.
This Constitutional amendment would provide such a reduction for the 2006 and 2007 tax years.
This amendment will expire Jan 1,2009, which means that school tax reductions after the 2007 tax year would require another constitutional amendment.
Arguments in support:
- Since other taxpayers were granted this reduction in school taxes by the state legislature it’s only fair that those over 65 and the disabled receive the same proportionate reduction.
- Many elderly and disabled citizens are on a low and/or fixed income and need lower taxes.
Arguments against:
- The intention of the 2006 bill was to reduce taxes for those Texans whose property values have had large hikes in recent years. Seniors and the disabled had their taxes frozen so that they did not experience the same rise in taxes as others and therefore they should not receive another discount.
- Seniors and the disabled already get a significant tax break by having the amount of their school taxes frozen the year they qualify for this ceiling and therefore should not receive additional reductions on their school taxes.
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