Texas House wants to use COVID relief funds to send $525 checks -- but only to homeowners
Texas Republicans want to use billions in federal pandemic relief to send checks to homeowners just ahead of next year’s November elections — and call it property tax relief.
House lawmakers are pushing a proposal that would put $525 checks in the mailboxes of some 5.7 million homeowners who claim a homestead exemption — by tapping $3 billion sent to the state under the federal American Rescue Plan Act, the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill aimed at pandemic relief.
Senate Bill 1, which passed out of the House on Friday afternoon, is a roundabout way for Republican legislators to deliver on a longtime pet issue — property tax relief — without running afoul of a federal rule barring the use of stimulus dollars for tax cuts.
The bill originally came over from the Senate as a straight-up tax cut bill. House lawmakers gutted the Senate proposal to use it as a vehicle for the $3 billion in checks for homeowners. Now, lawmakers in both chambers will have to work out a compromise.
Read more: https://www.caller.com/story/news/2021/10/18/texas-house-wants-send-525-checks-but-only-homeowners/8510359002/
(Corpus Christi Caller-Times)
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