Abolish Property Taxes

Property Taxes: Eliminating the Burden

Renting personal property from the State until one loses the property or passes away is unacceptable and in no way is how our Founders intended for us to live. As it stands, Texans are being taxed out of their homes to fund out-of-control local spending; and it’s being propped up by the State. Doc Pete Chambers will ELIMINATE this practice in Texas with a phased approach to total elimination. Doc will eliminate property taxes in the same manner he treated wounded Soldiers on the battlefield; stop the bleeding, treat the wounds, and stabilize for long-term care:

• Stop the Bleeding: Provide an immediate 26% relief on the bill you already owe while expanding the Homestead Exemption to 100%, eliminating property taxes for single-family owner-occupied homes & land and small-scale long-term rental homes. This will be put to a vote for The People of Texas in May of 2027, four months after Doc swears-in.
  
• Treat the Wounds: The State has enabled local municipalities to arbitrarily assign property values through local CAD (Central Appraisal District) boards with vague rules that incentivize large year-over-year increases. Doc will include CAD rule reforms to stop this practice in the immediate Legislative Session and any Special Session he calls to address Property Taxes.
  
• Stabilize for Long-Term Care: Doc will move local municipality funding to consumption-based systems and eliminate remaining property taxes through legislation agendas pushed through in his term.

The Why

Local municipalities assess and collect property taxes for local municipality use to the tune of $87.2 billion each year. This is exclusively through local municipalities; the State does not collect property taxes to fund State budgets. Under the current system, Texans are being taxed out of their homes, and the ever-increasing property tax burden is acting as a barrier for potential new homeowners. Because the State has enabled this unsustainable abuse, it is the responsibility of the Governor and the State to address this problem. Through improper Texas laws and regulations governing CAD boards, the State has (*All figures based on official Texas Comptroller Reports that can be found at https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/reports/index.php) disenfranchised 12% of Texans (3,676,617) who have no legal right to citizen representation on their local CADs. These CADs are exclusively chosen by the taxing entities (counties, cities, school districts, etc.). The taxing entities and CADs have no incentive to reduce how much they take from their neighbors each year. History has proven that no entity levying and using a tax has willingly decided to reduce their own budget without a forcing function. The remaining 88% of Texans receive meager representation on their CADs; only enough to give the illusion of representation, but not enough to ensure a majority vote on any issue.

The How

Moving local municipality funding to a consumption-based funding system is both sustainable and fair. No longer will one group of society shoulder the burden of providing funding for municipalities where all groups get or use municipality services. By implementing a final 3.82% VAT and a sales tax rate of 9.19%, we can fully eliminate property taxes for Texans while ensuring local municipalities still have funds to operate. Doc will achieve a 26% reduction of the tax bill you already owe from the 2026 tax year by declaring an emergency and passing legislation through the 2027 Legislative Session to exclusively deal with property taxes. In this session, bills will be pushed through to retroactively reduce the tax burden, fix the rules and guidelines on CADs, and extend the homestead exemption for single-family owner-occupied homes to 100% through a Constitutional amendment to be voted on by The People in May of 2027. Additional Special Legislative sessions will be called to pass replacement funding mechanisms, via a 50/50 split VAT & sales tax. Exempted categories through the tax law on sales tax will continue and be extended to be exempt from VAT so lower and average earning Texans will not be disproportionally burdened. Through these sessions Doc will also push the legislature to pass a bill providing a Constitutional amendment to fully exempt small businesses from property taxes with a proposed vote by The People in November 2027. This effectively eliminates property taxes for Texans within the first year of Doc’s term while still ensuring local municipalities can function.

Doc Pete Chambers is committed to returning true ownership of property to The People and getting government spending in check. In a truly free Texas, you shouldn’t be renting from the government for the rest of your life; under Doc Pete Chamber’s leadership, you won’t be. We want your feedback on fixing these issues in Texas! Join our discussion on social media so we can make Texas a prosperous place for all future generations.