There are a lot of taxpayers throughout our state who are asked to pay more in school property taxes each year. It makes sense that many of those taxpayers think that as they send their local school district more money, that their local schools in turn have more money to spend on students. However, when it comes to school finance, nothing is that simple (or logical). That’s why we need some “taxparency” for property taxpayers in Texas.
HB 1890 by Rep. Giovanni Caprigilone and SB 1407 by Senator Van Taylor would provide that level of transparency to those who are paying the bills. Under this legislation, property taxpayers would receive information on their tax bill about the percentage of the tax they are paying that goes toward the operations of their local school district and the percentage that is paid to the state through Robin Hood recapture. Or if a school district doesn’t pay recapture, then the taxpayer would receive information about the percentage of the school district’s operations are paid for by local property tax revenue and the percentage covered by state sources, comparing the current and previous year.
To find out more about this issue, please visit www.taxparencytexas.org or download the issue brief on the legislation mentioned above.