Several invited witnesses presented competing perspectives on property‑tax relief at the House Committee on Ways and Means hearing, reflecting different priorities for equity, economic growth and local governance.

Jennifer Raab of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association (TTRA) told members that long‑run relief should focus on reducing taxes on invested capital because business investment drives jobs and incomes. She outlined how the 2023 package — largely homestead exemptions and compression — shifted a portion of school tax burden onto business and said the state pays for much of relief through general revenue, which the comptroller estimates is funded more heavily by business. Raab urged consideration of business personal property exemptions (her materials show smaller exemptions are less costly than a full exemption) and cautioned that enlarging a constitutionally enshrined homestead exemption will worsen a “split‑roll” situation and create long‑term structural change.

Shannon Halbrook of Every Texan framed the debate around equity and household need. Halbrook said Texas’s state and local tax structure is regressive and that many lower‑income households — particularly renters — do not benefit directly from property‑tax reductions targeted at homeowners. She urged the committee to consider renter credits or rebates, a circuit‑breaker program that scales relief to ability to pay, or a state earned‑income tax credit as more equitable, lower‑cost ways to help people who are most burdened by housing costs.

James Quintero of the Texas Public Policy Foundation urged larger overall tax relief and stronger guardrails to prevent local actions from eroding state relief. Quintero recommended a larger package — he cited a $10 billion number as a target — and suggested statutory changes to limit local revenue growth, a uniform voter‑approval revenue metric across taxing entities, and rules (such as cooling‑off periods) to prevent taxing units from repeatedly resubmitting bond or rate propositions after voters reject them. Quintero illustrated the point using Travis County and Austin Independent School District examples: he said local rate increases and large bond packages have partly offset state relief, putting pressure back on taxpayers.

Committee members questioned witnesses on trade‑offs between homeowner relief and business tax incidence, the treatment of renters, and the degree to which the state should impose constraints on local taxing units. Witnesses differed: Raab and Quintero favored structural changes to protect the value of state relief and to lower tax burden on business investment; Halbrook prioritized targeted household relief that benefits renters and lower‑income households.

Ending: Each witness left written testimony and supporting tables in the committee packet and offered to meet with staff for follow‑up on incidence and policy modeling.