Texas Senate report: 40% to 60% of homeowners pay no school property taxes

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 (The Center Square) – A new analysis of property taxes indicates that 60% of seniors and the disabled and 40% of other homestead homeowners in Texas pay no independent school district (ISD) property taxes. 

At a Texas Senate Committee on Local Government hearing on Tuesday, state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, announced the findings of an analysis his office conducted on statewide property taxes after bills were enacted that he authored. 

He said it took about four months for his staff to put statewide tax data together, saying “never has there been comprehensive data survey of all 254 counties … ever … where we pulled all the tax bills into one database. The facts are really astonishing.”

His presentation, “Residence Homestead ISD Property Tax Savings from SB 4 and SB 23,” evaluates new laws that Bettencourt authored. The bills increased the homestead exemption, capped school district property taxes for seniors, veterans and the disabled, and put restrictions in place for appraisals and for county governments seeking to increase property taxes. When SB 4 passed the legislature, Bettencourt said “80% to 90% of Texas seniors will pay no property taxes at all” as a result of the new law, The Center Square reported.

Within a year, that percentage is at 40% for regular homeowners and 60% for seniors and the disabled, according to the data Bettencourt presented. 

Bettencourt gave an overview of property tax bills the legislature passed dating to 11 years ago. In 2015, the legislature increased the Homestead Exemption from $15,000 to $25,000; and in 2023, to $100,000. In 2025, the legislature increased it to $140,000 for regular homesteads and to $200,000 for homeowners 65 and older and the disabled.

SB 4 and SB 23 were also added as constitutional amendments on the November 2025 ballot, passing by 78% and 79%, respectively, The Center Square reported. 

Both bills totaled $51 billion in property tax relief through public school Maintenance and Operations (M&O) tax rate compression and homestead exemptions. 

Bettencourt said there was consensus among Republicans and Democrats that “increasing the homestead exemption is the quickest way to a long-term tax cut for a homestead owner.”

The analysis reviewed data received through public information requests from 253 county appraisal districts and from 254 county tax assessor-collectors. The analysis includes the most comprehensive homestead ISD property tax data collection project, using actual tax bill data from across the state, the report states. 

According to the data, in 2024, there were 2,331,096 “Over 65/Disabled” homestead properties. In 2026, the number increased to 2,384,383. Among them, in 2024, 44% of homeowners paid no ISD property tax, increasing to nearly 61% in 2026.

The report notes that once a homestead exemption is frozen at zero it stays at zero.

“It’s important to know that these homestead owners [age 65 and older and the disabled] will never go above zero in their lifetime,” Bettencourt said. “There will be more coming.”

The goal Bettencourt and other state lawmakers said was to keep seniors in their homes. 

The data also shows that in 2024, 28% (nearly 700,000 out of 3.7 million) and in 2025, 39% (nearly 950,000 out of 3.7 million) of all statewide homestead properties didn’t pay ISD property taxes. 

“The astonishing thing about this is nearly four in ten homesteads don’t pay ISD property taxes,” Bettencourt said. 

He also pointed to ISD property tax bills dropping on average by 13.5% from 2024 to 2025. For seniors and the disabled, the ISD property taxes dropped on average by nearly 33%, Bettencourt said.

“This has never been reported before,” he said. 

The average appraisal of a home evaluated was $360,000, according to the data. 

Reducing property taxes is a top concern among voters and has been identified as a legislative priority by the leaders of the Texas legislature. 

Gov. Greg Abbott has laid out a five-point property tax plan, which he argues will lower property taxes even more. He argues spiking appraisals and local government tax hikes have wiped out property tax reduction gains and more needs to be done. His plan includes imposing budget constraints on local governments, requiring a two-thirds vote for taxing authorities to impose property tax increases, reforming the appraisal process, eliminating the ISD M&O tax altogether and proposing a constitutional amendment to do that.