Republican candidate Armin Mizani is challenging incumbent Giovanni Capriglione for the Texas House District 98 Republican nomination. Primary elections are March 6 and Community Impact Newspaper sent Mizani, a attorney, a series of questions on his candidacy. His written responses, edited for clarity, are below.

Q: Why are you running for District 98 representative?

A: I am running because the voters of House District 98 deserve a conservative Republican leader who will address the issues affecting us most. Among many things, my primary focus is on cutting property taxes, stronger caps on government spending, securing our border, and addressing an outdated school funding system known as “Robin Hood” which has taken hundreds of millions of dollars away from our local communities.

Q: Why are you qualified for this position?

A: In addition to being a small-business owner, I have served on the Keller City Council. As a councilman, I have focused on reducing the property tax burden on homeowners, all the while bringing transparency and accountability to the office. I proposed and helped pass the first increase to the homestead exemption in Keller in over 30 years. I have voted to cut taxes each and every year I have been in office.

Additionally, I also authored the city’s new ethics policy so that constituents can hold their elected officials accountable. I have also been appointed by Governor [Greg] Abbott to serve on a state board as a member of the Auto Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority.

Q: What issues do you feel the county will face over the next five years?

A: The biggest issues we must focus on are reducing our dependency on property taxes, capping state government spending, securing our border and fixing our broken Robin Hood education funding system. I have talked to too many people who are being priced out of their own homes. This is unacceptable—I believe that the government doesn’t own your home, you do.

Q: If elected, how will you address those issues?

A: I have proposed a detailed plan on both fixing property taxes and improving our education system. Unlike my opponent, I believe constituents should be able to vote on whether school districts should be allowed to raise property taxes without a vote from their constituents.

I believe we should overhaul our dependency on property taxes by looking into a consumption-based funding system so that everyone, including out-of-state tourists, help fund our budget all the while reducing the burden on Texans. Additionally, this system could create over 200,000 jobs and provide a $28 billion-dollar boost to the Texas economy - all within the first five years.

In education, among many issues we must begin by reforming a broken Robin Hood school funding system which pulls money away from our communities. We must also focus on policies that increase learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math. Additionally, we should let students know how much they can expect to earn before they seek a college degree.