Dallas Morning News Editorial Urges Legislature Not To Limit Local Control Over Property Taxes

A deputy editor says this could disproportionately affect Texas’ large, Democratic-leaning cities.

By Kristen CabreraNovember 19, 2018 1:33 pm

The midterm elections saw a big change in the political map of Texas, with many cities and suburbs turning blue. What’s unclear now is how will the GOP-led statehouse will respond to these changes.

The Dallas Morning News editorial board recently explored this change in Texas politics in its article, “Republican Lawmakers, Don’t Take Revenge on Texas’ Big Blue Urban Cities.” Deputy Editor of Editorials, Rudy Bushsays it’s possible that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick would bring back legislation that would limit local governments’ ability to raise property taxes, and the article argues that property tax rates, among other things, should stay in local control.  

“Here in Dallas, for example, the people overwhelmingly voted for a 13-cent property tax increase to pay for programs within the Dallas Independent School District that have proven to be effective in turning around a school district that is 90-plus-percent impoverished,” Bush says. “Local taxpayers are telling their local governments, ‘We’re willing to pay for these services.’”

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Written by Alexia Puente.