First posted on Instagram
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Texas, has called for the abolishment of property taxes in Texas, saying he has pushed property-tax cuts throughout his career and now wants the tax gone entirely.
"I have proposed bills that would cut property taxes the entire time I was in the legislature. I truly believe we need to ELIMINATE property tax in Texas!" Paxton says in a clip from a voter event that circulated on X on Thursday.
Paxton, who is running against Democratic state Representative James Talarico in the November 3 election, has made property-tax relief a central part of his pitch to Texas voters. As attorney general, he barred more than 130 Texas cities from raising property taxes after finding they had failed to meet financial transparency requirements under Senate Bill 1851, and his campaign’s "Protecting the Texas Promise" plan promises federal tax deductions for homebuyers and families.
Supporters of abolishing the tax argue homeowners should not have to keep paying the government simply for owning their property, casting the tax as "rent to the government." Critics counter that eliminating property taxes would force Texas to find major new sources of revenue for schools and local services, which rely heavily on property-tax funding.
The debate is not confined to Texas. In Florida, voters will decide on November 3 on Amendment 3, a ballot measure championed by Governor Ron DeSantis that would raise the homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with a mandate for lawmakers to design a path toward the complete elimination of homestead property taxes. The amendment needs 60 percent of the vote to pass, and school levies are not affected.