UPDATE: Texas Senate passes bill that would nearly double property tax exemption for seniors, people with disabilities

“Many [seniors] are in a very limited income situation,” Austin resident Susan Spataro told the committee. “Many people over 65 wish to age in place. And in order to age in place, they have to be able to pay for their property taxes.”

Following a brief hearing, the bipartisan committee voted 7-0 to send SB 23 and an associated constitutional amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 85, to the full Senate. If passed by both chambers, the tax cut would be on voters’ ballots in November.

The background

Under the Senate’s tax relief plans, seniors and people with disabilities would save about $950 on their annual property tax bills, bill author Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston said. This includes $454 under SB 23 and $496 from other proposed legislation, according to documents presented during the hearing.

In February, state senators approved a bill that would raise tax exemptions for all homeowners to $140,000. In an April 2 interview, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversees the Senate, told Community Impact he wanted to pass a $200,000 exemption for seniors.

Bills must be approved by both legislative chambers before they can become law.

Bettencourt said SB 23 would be “probably singularly the most impactful bill that we've ever passed for one group of people, which are over 65 and disabled. For those over 65, they've already paid a lifetime in taxes.”

Zooming in

If those bills become law, elderly or disabled Texans whose homes are worth less than $200,000 would no longer pay maintenance and operations taxes to their local school districts. Maintenance and operations taxes make up about half of a homeowner’s full tax bill, according to the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation.

“We’ve already got 45% of the seniors and disabled paying no school tax,” Bettencourt said during the April 22 hearing. “What we're about ready to do is going to kick that into the stratosphere—we're going to have a supermajority of seniors not paying any tax.”

Under SB 23, schools would receive money from the state to ensure they do not lose revenue from the increased homestead exemption. Homeowners would still be required to pay taxes levied by other government entities, like counties or hospital districts.

Brandy Wuensch, president of the Austin Board of Realtors, said SB 23 would give elderly Texans more stability and help them stay in their homes.

“Unfortunately, in my line of work, I have witnessed many seniors struggle to afford basic housing necessities,” Wuensch said. “I've had to represent many seniors, like my own grandparents, who had to sell their home after owning that home ... for decades due to affordability constraints like property taxes in growing cities like Austin.”

Mike Taylor, a member of the Texas Silver-Haired Legislature, which advocates for seniors at the capitol, said he “wholeheartedly” supported SB 23, noting that elderly Texans also struggle to pay high home insurance premiums.

“Whatever you give us, the insurance premium will take it away,” Taylor said. “That's the problem. There's always someone knocking at the door of older Texans, trying to get more money out of them.”

More context

Shannon Halbrook, a fiscal analyst for Every Texan, a progressive think tank, urged the committee to consider cutting taxes for Texans who do not own their homes.

“Many Texans are struggling with the cost of housing—it's not just homeowners,” he said. “We would prefer something that would help, for example, the 37% of Texas who rent. I’d love something like a circuit breaker, which uses the ability to pay and ... incorporates income into the amount that folks are liable for.”

During the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers approved a “circuit breaker” that prevents the value of commercial and residential property worth $5 million or less from increasing by more than 20% per year. Also known as an appraisal cap, this applies to property other than someone’s primary home and runs through 2026, according to previous Community Impact reporting.

The Texas House and Senate passed separate bills in early April that would expand a tax exemption for business owners, per previous reporting. House lawmakers are also considering legislation that would reduce school district maintenance and operations taxes by about $0.10 per $100 of taxable value. That bill was approved by a House committee in March, although it has not reached the full chamber for debate.