Abolish Property Taxes? First Show What Replaces Them.

Everybody wants property taxes gone. Nobody in Austin wants to say what replaces them. HB 144 puts that question in writing, with a deadline.

Plain English

On November 9, 2026, the first day of bill filing for the 2027 session, Rep. Brent Money of House District 2 filed House Bill 144. (FACT: Filed House Bills report, HB 144 bill text)

The caption: "Relating to a study of alternative methods of taxation to replace revenue lost to political subdivisions if ad valorem taxes are abolished."

Ad valorem tax means property tax.

This bill does not abolish anything. It creates the "Commission to Study Measures to Abolish Ad Valorem Taxes" and tells it to study how Texas would replace the money if property taxes went away. (FACT: bill text, Sections 1 and 7)

Here is how it is built, straight from the text:

• Nine members. The comptroller runs it. Three senators picked by the lieutenant governor. Three House members picked by the speaker. Two public members picked by the governor. (FACT: Sections 2 and 3)
• The comptroller's staff does the work. Members get no pay, only expenses. (FACT: Sections 5 and 6)
• The report is due by December 1, 2028, to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker and the chairs of the tax committees. (FACT: Section 8)
• The commission ends and the law expires September 1, 2029. (FACT: Section 9)

One word matters. The bill says "political subdivisions," not just school districts. In plain terms that reaches counties, cities and the other local taxing units that send you a bill. (DOCUMENTED INFERENCE: from the caption and Section 7; the bill does not define the term)

Why it matters

Abolition talk is not new.

Gov. Greg Abbott campaigned on letting voters decide whether to abolish school property taxes on homeowners, and said there was "no reason to raise our sales tax." (DOCUMENTED INFERENCE: Texas Tribune report via HPPR, Dec. 10, 2025)

The price tag is the fight.

In September 2026, the comptroller's chief revenue estimator told the House Ways and Means Committee that ending homeowners' school property taxes would cost about $8.6 billion a year, growing to about $12 billion by 2032. (DOCUMENTED INFERENCE: Community Impact, Sept. 17, 2026)

The Legislative Budget Board said replacing all school property taxes would have cost the state $39.5 billion in tax year 2023. (DOCUMENTED INFERENCE: Texas Tribune report via HPPR)

That is schools only. HB 144 points at all of it.

The receipt

• HB 144, introduced text (90R). Two pages. Ten sections. Read it yourself.
• Filed House Bills report, 90R: HB 144, author Money, filed 11/09/2026.
• Rep. Brent Money, House District 2.
• Effective date: immediately with a two-thirds vote of each house, otherwise September 1, 2027. (FACT: Section 10)

What Ryan says

I have heard "abolish property taxes" at every rally and every fish fry in East Texas.

I want the day a Texan actually owns his home. Pay it off and it is yours. Not rented back to you by the tax office.

But a slogan is not a plan.

If you take away the money that pays for schools, deputies, roads and fire trucks, something has to pay for it. A higher sales tax. Cuts. New fees. Somebody pays. I want to know who.

So I am glad somebody wrote the question down on day one.

Now here is my worry.

A study is not a tax cut. A commission can be a parking lot where hard ideas go to die quietly.

The report lands December 1, 2028. That is after the 2027 session is over. The Legislature meets in regular session in odd years, so the earliest regular session to act on it would be 2029. (FACT: Government Code 301.001)

The bill says the commission meets "at the call of the presiding officer." It does not say it has to hold public hearings. I want them public. I want one in East Texas. I want the math on the table where a farmer in Upshur County and a retiree in Gregg County can read it.

Show me the sales tax rate it would take. Show me what gets cut. Show me who pays.

If the honest answer is a sales tax that doubles, say it out loud. Texans can handle the truth. What we cannot handle is another promise with no receipt.

What this does not prove

• It does not cut a single dollar of property tax.
• It does not prove the bill will get a hearing or pass.
• It does not prove abolition is affordable, or that it is not.
• The cost figures above come from news reports, not from the bill. They NEED AUTHENTICATION against the original comptroller testimony and LBB documents.
• It does not tell us what the commission would recommend.

What it does prove

• On the first day of filing, a member put the replacement question into a bill with a deadline and a named owner, the comptroller.
• The commission would be built by the offices that run the Capitol: lieutenant governor, speaker, governor and comptroller.
• The study reaches all political subdivisions, not just schools.

The bottom line

Do not let anybody sell you abolition without the bill for it. Do not let anybody bury the question in a study either. Show the math. In public. Then let Texans decide.

This is the record.

Do not threaten anyone. Do not harass anyone. Do not contact anyone in my name. Read it. Share it. Send receipts, evidence, witnesses. Put eyes on the record.