Revenue Cap [TABOR] |

TABOR voted down - 1 — click on the map for more information

TABOR [Tax Payer Bill of Rights]
Houston calls it the “revenue cap” but throughout the US it is known as TABOR.

“Houstonians will see their first property tax rate cut in five years as the city runs up against TABOR imposed by voters a decade ago.
The modest rollback works out to $12.27 a year for the owner of a $200,000 house with a standard homestead exemption.” [roughly $50mm total]
Houston Chronicle – City rev cap to force modest tax rate cut

“Proponents argue that TABOR’s population-plus-inflation formula allows states to maintain public services while keeping spending under control. In reality, however, the formula does not keep pace with the normal growth in the cost of maintaining services, let alone the need to make new investments or improvements. Inevitably, TABOR forces large, annual cuts to services that families and businesses rely on and that support state economic prosperity, as Colorado’s experience shows.

Problem:
Despite its broad coverage of prices, the CPI-U used in the TABOR formula does not track the cost of many factors that affect a person’s well-being – for example, crime, traffic, pollution, the prevalence of disease, the quality of education, and civil liberties. Cost-of-living measures rarely include such factors because few market prices or consumer expenditures are associated with them, making it essentially impossible to define and measure changes in their price or value.

Problems:

Our city is adding roughly 15,000 to 30,000 every year and we need to have the proper city social services to meet this growth

Due to the billions in property tax and sales tax loopholes the city needs proper funding

Without proper funding the city will not be able to enforce raise the wage ordinances

Solutions:

Amend the Texas constitution to let municipalities amend their charters more than once every two years

Houston’s revenue cap is bureaucratic and unnecessary since Texas has an appraisal cap and a property tax cap

Municipal and state governments could use a public bank to offset archaic ideas like spending caps

Texas Constitution
Code – Texas Constitution
Article – 11 Municipal Corporations
Section – 5 Cities of more than 5,000 population; adoption or amendment of charters; taxes debt restrictions

Houston Business Journal – Houston voters to decide on Proposition 1

Citizens for Accountability – Houston Revenue Cap

Denver Post – CSU study finds 80 percent of Colorado taxpayers pay more because of TABOR

Ad Hoc Charter Review Committee City of Houston Revenue Cap

TML – Revenue Cap Bills Bases on a False Premise

CPPP – How to Reduce Property Taxes, Pros and Cons

TML – Revenue Caps on Cities: The $2.75 Property Tax Cut

Houston Chronicle – City Council trims Houston tax rate to comply with revenue cap

Houston Chronicle – City Council to consider property tax rate cut

Houston Chronicle – Mayoral candidates talk about Houston, Art and Hotel Occupancy Tax

Houston Chronicle – School districts hit tax caps as they borrow for construction

Houston Chronicle – White tries new tack in revenue-cap fight