During a recent session, state lawmakers voted against an amendment that would have provided Texans $20 billion in tax relief; Republican State Rep. Brian Harrison (Midlothian) was among those who voted in support of the amendment.

On April 13, the Texas House of Representatives discussed House Bill 2, a proposal by Republican State Rep. Morgan Meyer (Dallas). The proposed legislation would allow caps to apply to all real property while aiming to decrease the appraisal caps on homestead property from the current threshold of 10% down to 5%. Additionally, the bill proposes to compress the school M&O portion of the property tax — more than double the compression offered in leading Texas Senate proposals.

Before the legislative session held on April 13, Republican State Rep. Tony Tinderholt (Arlington) pre-filed an amendment to the bill, which would have provided $20 billion in school M&O compression and given Texas taxpayers an amount of property tax relief qualifying as the largest property tax cut in Texas history, as promised by Gov. Greg Abbott since the beginning of the year.

After Meyer's motion to table, Tinderholt's amendment was defeated, resulting in a 118-20 vote. Nineteen total lawmakers voted for it; 16 Republicans and 3 Democrats. Although the Republican Party of Texas platform advocates for property tax relief, 60 Republicans voted against the effort. The 2022 Republican Party of Texas Platform states, "Property Tax Relief: We support these incremental steps toward the ultimate abolition of property tax: Dedicate surpluses to buy down school district maintenance and operation property tax."

Harrison was among the lawmakers that voted in support of Tinderholt's amendment to the Texas Property Tax Relief Act and gave his opinion on why the amendment should be passed.

"Texans can never own their homes and are being taxed out of them," Harrison told Lone Star Standard. "Property taxes are unethical, out of control, and should be eliminated. Until then, the legislature should give as much property tax relief as possible and any effective tax increase should require an election. I am proud to have filed a bill to do this. We must return power to the taxpayers."

According to Texas Public Policy Foundation analysts, the current largest property tax cut in Texas history was $14.2 billion, passed in 2006. If Texans were to receive the same property tax cut today, after adjusting for inflation, that amount of relief would be over $20 billion.