Paxton lauded for property tax relief efforts: 'Consistently conservative, and an admirable communicator'

State Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney) is being recognized for authoring bills in favor of property tax relief. In 2021, Paxton penned two bills that passed the Texas Legislature. In 2019, she also backed legislation limiting the amount local authorities can raise taxes yearly. 

Plano City Councilman Shelby Williams noted Paxton's contribution to property tax relief in his endorsement of her re-election campaign.

"I'm very proud to endorse Senator Angela Paxton for re-election to the Texas Senate. In addition to being consistently conservative, and an admirable communicator, Angela frequently makes me think," Williams said on Facebook.

"As the Vice-Chair of the Senate Committee on Property Tax in 2019, Angela helped usher through important property tax reform, without which Texas families would have continued to be crushed. I have full faith that she will strongly support Texas taxpayers again in the upcoming session."

"Moreover, Angela has a shrewd focus on reforming education in the state, which has been shown to be of increasing importance."

"Please join me in supporting--and voting for!--Angela Paxton." 

Paxton represents Texas State Senate District 8.

Gov. Greg Abbott said in July that he would support returning the state's budget surplus to taxpayers via a reduction in property taxes, the Austin Journal reported.

"We need to return as much of that as possible to taxpayers by cutting property taxes," Abbott tweeted. 

The almost $27 billion budget surplus was thanks largely to taxes paid by the state's oil and gas industry.

Out of all 50 states and Washington, D.C., Texas has the 45th highest property tax rate, according to Rocket Mortgage. The only states with higher property tax rates are Wisconsin, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Illinois and New Jersey.

Vance Ginn, chief economist for the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), said that over the last 20 years, the state's property taxes have risen 81% faster than the preferred growth rate, which is a measure of population plus inflation. Ginn sent a letter to the Senate Finance Committee in May outlining TPPF's plan to eliminate the maintenance and operations (M&O) property taxes, which account for 80% of the state's property taxes, by 2033. The elimination of M&O taxes would be made possible in part by reducing state and local government spending.

Paxton was one of the authors of the 2019 Senate Bill 2, which called for increased transparency within the property tax system and barred property tax increases without voter approval, according to her website.

Paxton is serving her first term representing Texas' 8th Senate District, according to Ballotpedia. In November, she will face Democrat John Cocks, who ran unopposed in the primary.