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Is relief coming for renters?
Texans are set to receive $18 billion in property tax relief over the next two years, and none of it — at least directly — is earmarked for renters.
As Jasper Scherer reports across the state, renters occupy about three out of every eight households, including more than half of those in Texas' largest cities, according to Census Bureau estimates. They pay property taxes indirectly to their landlords, who pass on the costs as a portion of the rent they charge.
But some lawmakers and policy experts say there is no guarantee that property owners will, in a similar fashion, pass along the savings from Texas' multibillion-dollar property tax-cut package, even as the cuts are funded by taxes that everyone pays.
"We're talking about a huge part of our population," said state Rep. John Bryant, D-Dallas. "Everybody pays property taxes, but not everybody is getting a property tax cut. Only the owners of the property are getting it, and no reasonable person suggests that they're going to pass [it] along to the renters."
Gov. Greg Abbott and lawmakers at times last year kicked around the idea of cutting sales taxes, but the plan ultimately died in favor of a mostly property-tax driven tax cut plan.
Who's up, who's down
Up: Greg Abbott.
In 2022, he won his re-election over Democrat Beto O'Rourke, but it took a lot of money. Ultimately he spent over $130 million on that re-election. But new campaign finance reports show he's fast rebuilding his once-massive campaign war chest. He's now back up to $38 million in his two campaign accounts. That's close to the $39 million he was sitting on just before O'Rourke began talking about challenging him.
Down: Mike Johnson.
Texas Congressman Chip Roy wasn't holding back during an interview with Fox News correspondent Aishah Hasnie in Iowa yesterday about a proposed budget deal that House Speaker Mike Johnson is negotiating with Democrats in the U.S. Senate. Roy was asked if Johnson could face removal from office like now-former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last fall. He didn't say yes, but he also didn't say no. "Speaker Johnson is doing all the same stupid crap that we opposed," Roy said.
What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.
What else is going on in Texas
 Photo by: Alex Brandon/Associated Press | | Republicans accuse the Homeland Security head of failing to follow immigration law and violating public trust as border crossings have peaked. | |
 Photo by: Nathan Howard, Associated Press | | Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, warned Biden his efforts to limit oil and gas development would hurt him come the presidential election in November. | |
 Photo by: Robert F. Bukaty, AP | | Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is dropping out of the Republican presidential race in an effort to deny Donald Trump a glidepath to the nomination. | |
 Photo by: Jose Luis Magana, AP | | Hunter Biden has stirred a political frenzy by showing up in the front row at a House Oversight Committee hearing as Republicans take aim at him. | |
 Photo by: Elizabeth Conley, Staff Photographer | | Harris County election officials warn they will face steep challenges in the March primary elections, as they contend with the county's split primaries and a new bill requiring more polling sites. | |
 Photo by: Elizabeth Conley, Staff Photographer | | The Texas Railroad Commission's most recent list of wells needing to be plugged numbered almost 8,200, a 3% increase since federal funding started flowing in 2022. | |
 Photo by: Sam Owens, San Antonio Express-News | | The county will likely complete the acquisition in February and have trails available for public use within a week of the close. | |
Pick of the day
Photo by: Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Texas is passing up nearly $350 million in federal aid to help feed millions of low-income children during the summer months after a state agency said it lacked the time and resources to implement the program this year. Reporter Taylor Goldenstein has the details on it all here.
What else I'm reading
Remember when U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls was confronting rioters to keep them out of the House Chambers during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol? Well, Ryan J. Reilly at NBC News reported earlier this week that newly released audio from the confrontation captured Nehls, the former Fort Bend County Sheriff, yelling at rioters "You ought to be ashamed of yourself!" Despite that moment, Nehls has been a critic of those who characterized Jan. 6 as an insurrection. In October he told followers on social media that "there was NO INSURRECTION."
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