By Katie Serrano
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is campaigning on lowering property taxes by blaming counties and cities for the rising cost.
In response, Republican Johnson County Commissioner Rick Bailey, a lifelong conservative, is accusing Abbott of intentionally misleading voters to get re-elected, and ignoring the unfunded mandates handed down to local governments by the state.
“If the property tax system is broken, he’s had 12 years and Republican majorities in the legislature to fix it. It’s unfortunate Abbott is misleading voters in his quest to stay in office. And frankly, we’ve seen this playbook before. With both data centers and Flock cameras, we’ve seen the governor reverse course amid public concern as an election grew closer. Now we’re being told to believe that local government is the reason why Texans are paying more in property taxes. At some point, Texans should ask why so many of the governor’s solutions seem to arrive when his name is on the ballot.
The governor consistently blames counties and cities for rising property tax bills, accusing us of runaway spending and arguing that even tighter restrictions on local government are the answer. In Johnson County, that story doesn’t match reality.
We’re required to pay for services like indigent legal defense and health care. In Johnson County, that costs us roughly $5 million a year – a fraction of which is reimbursed by the state. That’s not reckless local spending. That’s county government fulfilling its obligations as required by law. Yet, Abbott would have Texans believe their property taxes are rising because local officials can’t control themselves.”
The op-ed comes shortly after Abbott was caught mischaracterizing his Democratic opponent Gina Hinojosa’s record on property taxes.
Abbott’s campaign launched a TV ad asserting that Hinojosa has voted “40 times” in the legislature to raise property taxes, which was proven to be false as Hinojosa’s voting record shows she has never directly voted to make property taxes higher. The state legislature does not levy property taxes—counties and school districts do.
