Shapiro to propose state property tax
January 4, 2005
She says levy would equalize school funding, eliminate Robin Hood.
Written by Terrence Stutz, The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – The initial education finance plan filed in the Senate this year would eliminate most local property taxes for schools and substitute a state property tax to guarantee equal funding for all schools, a Senate leader said Tuesday.
State Sen. Florence Shapiro, a Plano Republican and chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, told The Dallas Morning News that she will propose a new state property tax when the Legislature takes up the thorny issue of school funding in its regular session this year. The session begins Tuesday.
"A state property tax will be part of my plan," said Ms. Shapiro, who is expected to be the main author of the legislation in the Senate. "I have found it to be the most equitable system we can come up with."
The proposal that Senate leaders are working on would cut the maximum property tax rate of $1.50 per $100 valuation by a third. That would leave a new rate of $1, which Ms. Shapiro would convert to a state property tax.
School property taxes are about half of a taxpayer's overall bill.
Her plan is to allow school districts to then levy a local tax of up to 15 cents per $100 for local programs.
A state property tax is prohibited under the Texas Constitution, so two-thirds of the House and Senate – and a simple majority of voters statewide – would have to approve an amendment.
Ms. Shapiro acknowledged that that would be a formidable hurdle, in part because school boards strongly oppose what they see as a weakening of local control.
"We will continue to oppose it as we have in the past," said Clayton Downing of the Texas School Coalition, an organization that represents more than 100 school districts that have been deemed property-wealthy. Such districts are required to surrender some property tax money under the current school-finance law, commonly known as "Robin Hood."
"A state property tax does not eliminate Robin Hood; it's just another version," he said. "It shifts the burden from the local districts to the local taxpayers who still have to pay it."
Ms. Shapiro said schools would have access to the same revenues as they do now.
"I don't buy their argument because they would still have the same revenue to spend. The state would simply be acting as a collection agency and sending it back to them," she said.
Ms. Shapiro said a state property tax addresses one of the key arguments made by the hundreds of school districts that sued the state over school finance – that the current $1.50 limit on local property tax rates is tantamount to an illegal state property tax.It also would address the recurring problem of equal funding for all districts regardless of local property wealth, she said.
"You wouldn't have to worry about how much everybody gets for each penny of tax because everybody would get the same amount of money per student," Ms. Shapiro said.
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