Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick let it be known to all on Tuesday that he will not back down when it comes to the Senate'sPatrick said he cannot negotiate with an empty House and called for the lawmakers in that chamber to return to Austin. In a press conference Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick accused House lawmakers of abandoning Texas homeowners by not staying to negotiate property tax relief.
Patrick says the Governor is wrong on this one, by favoring a plan that creates bigger breaks for property-rich homeowners over what Patrick considers a more equal offering from the Senate. It is just the latest example of the back and forth between the leaders of the Texas House and Senate. What the Lieutenant Governor is trying to do is implement property tax exemptions as part of the homestead exemption, an increase that would provide long-lasting benefits in addition to some of the compression that the House and Governor are trying to propose, which would be more temporary."RelatedExperts say while the two proposals would save the average Texans about the same in taxes each year, they would have drastically different consequences.