Despite his posturing from the Texas House Floor, Katy area Republican Gary Gates goes along with unlimited tax increases at the expense of beleaguered Texas Homeowners.  

Jacey Jetton, Texas HD 26          Lacey Hull, Texas HD 138             Gary Gates, Texas HD 28

AUSTIN, TX– During the Texas House of Representatives’ most recent 88th Legislative Session, State Rep. Jacey Jetton (R-26HD) sponsored and argued for two bills which will cause tremendous tax increases on beleaguered and overtaxed Texas homeowners.

These two bills are House Bill 2071 and House Bill 3453, which were effective on June 6 and September 1, respectively.

HB 2071, which was sponsored by Jetton, Rep. Lacey Hull (R-138HD) and other notoriously progressive House Republicans, offers tax breaks to corporations which will directly devastate homeowners in Texas.

The bill text reads “Relating to certain public facilities, including public facilities used to provide affordable housing.”

Essentially, Jetton advocated to provide corporations with a 99-year tax break, knowing that this bill’s passage would defund public schools, counties and cities, and ultimately increase the tax burden on homeowners.

The following text is an excerpt from the House journal’s documentation of the floor debates over this bill between Jetton and Rep. Gary Gates (R-HD28), who despite his arguments was also a sponsor of the House Bill.

“So, your bill doesn’t set any minimums. It just depends on the goodness of the developer and whoever does the deal- the city or the housing authority?” Gates said. “When the school taxes are wiped out, who makes that up?”

“Either other property taxpayers or the State of Texas,” Jetton responded.

“The State of Texas- Under the Robin Hood plan, the state would have to make up that difference, wouldn’t they?” Gates said.

“In some cases, yes,” Jetton said.

“Or they just raise the taxes on everyone else?” Gates said.

“That’s how property taxes work. When valuation is pulled off and the tax revenue stays the same, then it’s pulled from other sources, other valuations,” Jetton replied.

“If you wipe out $1,000,000 in local property taxes, the city loses it, the county loses it, and the school loses it. Who makes it up? You’re saying there may not be a tax increase?” Gates inquired.

For the full floor debate transcript over HB 2071, visit the House journal.

The “Robin Hood Plan,” which Gates referenced, is the nickname given to a provision of Texas Senate Bill 7 of the 73rd Texas Legislature to provide equity of school financing within all schools in the state of Texas.

The basic premise of SB 7 is that it limits both the amounts that school districts can spend on public education and the amounts that they can raise through locally assessed property taxes. If one Texas school district ends up with excess funding, this money is to be “recaptured” by the state and redistributed by other districts which are unable to raise the required revenue.

In Jetton’s floor debate, he argued that only districts which wish to enact HB 2071 may do so, and that the bill wouldn’t necessarily cause a property tax increase among all Texans.

Yet as per the Robin Hood Plan, if even one region were to enact his 99-year corporation tax break plan, the shortage of public revenue would fall onto the state, onto the school districts, and ultimately onto the backs of state homeowners. All Texans paying property taxes are responsible for funding shortages in any school districts within the state.

The Robin Hood Plan has been in effect in Texas since 1993, brought into the House for multiple revisions, and is now codified within the Texas Education Code. Jetton, Gates and every other sponsor and “yes” voter of HB 2071 were perfectly aware of the repercussions it would displace onto exhausted and overtaxed Texans.

How far we’ve fallen from our nation’s founding principles!

The second bill, which Jetton authored and co-sponsored, is HB 3453, “Relating to authorizing certain counties to impose a hotel occupancy tax and the applicability and rates of that tax in certain counties.”

This bill raises the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) in Fort Bend County, jeopardizing cities by allowing the county to impose a tax upon the city tax, which can price cities out of competition with other venues nearby.

If this bill gets paired with HB 2071, the individual effects of each bill will compound at the expense of Texans and homeowners. Both bills are detrimental tax increases, revealing Jetton’s history of voting to increase taxes on his constituents.

Katy Businessman Matt Morgan has filed to run against highly unpopular and controversial incumbent Jacy Jetton in Texas HD 26

Matt Morgan, who will oppose Jetton in the race for the State Representative for House District 26 in the upcoming Republican primary election in March, expressed disdain for Jetton’s brutal financial treatment of his constituents.

“As a homeowner in Fort Bend County myself, I know firsthand that we’ve been taxed enough already. It’s especially angering to see our own State Rep. Jacey Jetton push to give a tax break to his wealthy developer buddies and donors by raising taxes on Fort Bend homeowners,” Morgan said.

“It’s clear Jacey Jetton has been bought and paid for by special interests and he’s throwing the tax paying homeowners of this district under the bus. That’s why a super majority of Republican Precinct chairs have signed a letter of No Confidence in Jacey Jetton and demand new leadership now.”