The burden of skyrocketing local property taxes forces too many Texans out of their homes and businesses. HB 2 would make substantial reforms to help rein in this burden. This includes increasing transparency of the appraisal process, replacing complex jargon, and increasing information online. The biggest change that would structurally alter the property tax burden is lowering the rollback rate from 8 percent to 2.5 percent and changing it from a petition-driven election to an automatic one in November.
Taxes & Spending
Assessing Tax Trends in the City of Austin
Does history suggest that property taxes are too high in the city of Austin? And, if so, have local decision-makers actively helped or hurt the situation? To help answer these questions, let’s review the city’s 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) and gather four types of data—i.e., tax levies, local population, total tax rates, and taxable values—over a 10-year time horizon. Using these audited estimates, we can gauge the growth of government (i.e., tax levy trends), assess its reasonability...
February 19, 2026