Texans change the constitution
Texans headed to the polls on Nov. 4 to vote on 17 different proposed amendments that would be added to the Texas Constitution. In this election, all 17 propositions passed, making this the most amendments passed during a single election in Texas history.
Of the 17 passed amendments, 10 had to do with property taxes, tax exemptions, or bans on certain taxes. Additionally, three propositions allow for Texans to make investments in water infrastructure, dementia prevention, and technical education. Two amendments focused on reshaping Texas’s judicial system, and the last two focused on social and electoral issues.
“The people who are in charge of the state legislature won’t create a proposition to be added to the Texas Constitution unless there is some specific political reason, and they don’t want to look like they failed,” Government teacher John Mast said. “They try to make sure things pass, but the issue is that a lot of the time, the amendments are worded in a way that it is difficult to understand.”
Texans also approved Proposition 15, which puts parents’ rights directly in the State Constitution. This proposition will give parents more say over their kids’ education, healthcare, and upbringing. According to the Texas Tribune, there are concerns about how this proposal ensures that the child’s voice is being heard in addition to the parent’s concerns about how the bill language could lead to legal fights over different interpretations of the proposition in court.
“The problem is that they just passed a law that says teachers can’t talk about a bunch of different things,” Mast said. “There’s a lot of pressure these days for individual parents to say that their child is being impacted by whatever the teacher says. I think most teachers are pretty conscientious about not trying to take a stand one way or the other, but the current political atmosphere has put a lot more pressure on teachers.”
Increased tax reliefs were approved
The majority of the propositions passed were aimed at lowering taxes, one being Proposition 13 (Prop 13). Prop 13 increases the homestead exemption, which is a home’s value that cannot be taxed to pay for public schools, from $100,000 to $140,000.
“Taxes usually go towards good and helping people in the community,” senior Jack Lowe said. “Lowering taxes would put more people at a disadvantage, and it would hurt the funding for the social services that rely on taxes to provide for their programs.”
Similar to Prop 13, Proposition 11 would increase tax exemptions for elderly Texans from $10,000 to $60,000. According to KUT News, these propositions are part of a recent movement toward property tax relief, with nearly all state legislators pushing to get these propositions on the ballot. Additional lower property tax propositions include Proposition 17, which gives Texans along the southern border a tax break for any projects related to border security on their land, and Proposition 9, which lowers taxes for landlords and business owners.
“Certain groups are more favored in politics, especially with tax breaks,” Lowe said. “Right now, a lot of politics is focused on wealthy people and the debate of whether to tax them heavily or not.”
In addition to the propositions aimed to increase tax exemptions, Proposition 10 and Proposition 7 are focused on lowering taxes for certain groups of people. Prop 10 provides a temporarily lower property tax for homes that were destroyed by a fire. Similarly, Prop 7 creates tax exemptions on the homes of spouses of U.S. veterans who died in service.
“The tax breaks in some of the propositions were designed for veterans and the elderly who have a more fixed income,” Mast said. “They may have other things impacting their ability to make money, so the legislators want to protect those particular groups.”
Eliminating certain fees for good
Texas legislators also put four additional tax-related items on the ballot, specifically exemptions or outright bans on certain types of taxation. For instance, Proposition 2 (Prop 2) bans the state from taxing people or businesses on profits or potential profits, such as investments or real estate. Additionally, according to the Texas Tribune, it would eliminate the franchise tax on business trusts, which would result in the state losing an estimated $152,000 in revenue per fiscal year.
“When people see lower taxes or tax exemptions, they think they’re gonna benefit from those tax exemptions, and so they vote for it,” Lowe said. “However, wealthier people tend to have a higher chance of qualifying for tax exemptions because they usually have more of an opportunity to gain capital.”
In addition to Prop 2, Proposition 6 prevents the state from creating new taxes on financial transactions, such as stock trading. This amendment also includes taxing those who are a part of financial institutions, brokers, or dealers. According to the Texas Tribune, this proposition was prompted by the expected opening of a new stock exchange in Texas and is intended to help Texans protect their personal investments, such as retirement accounts and pensions.
“In America, the top 1% control so much of the wealth, and the wealth distribution is so uneven,” Lowe said. “Despite that, people who hold so much wealth pay almost equal taxes to the people who hold so little value. If these wealthy people were to be taxed more, that would provide so much help to poor people, but that doesn’t happen.”
Building up Texas’ future on the ballot
This election, voters passed several amendments aimed at investing in the state’s future. Starting with Proposition 1, which creates two new funds to help Texas’ technical colleges by providing money for buying land, building new classrooms, and updating equipment. Following this, Texans also approved Proposition 14, which provides $3 billion to create a Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas to study dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other brain-related conditions.
“Some of the things that passed were for things like funding Alzheimer’s research,” Mast said. “Why does that need to be in the Constitution? But then there’s Proposition 4, which helps ensure funding for the state’s water infrastructure that would force the state to make sure there’s always money for water projects, but you would kind of assume the state should do that anyway.”
Proposition 4 allocates $1 billion a year to fixing pipes, building reservoirs, and supporting the state’s water supply against future droughts. According to KUT, this money will begin to address the state’s numerous issues with aging water infrastructure.
“This proposition is needed,” Lowe said. “A couple of years ago, we had the freeze, and it showed how weak our water infrastructure was. When the freeze happened, it impacted everyone, and it showed people that we need to invest in a better water system, and that’s why this proposition passed.”
Voters also approved several changes to the state’s judicial system, one of which was Proposition 16, which reinforces that only U.S. citizens can vote in elections. According to the Texas Tribune, this proposition aims to prevent local governments in Texas from allowing residents who are not US citizens to vote in state and local elections.
“Even though that proposition is already in the U.S. Constitution, it still sounds important to me,” freshman Jessica Arce said. “I feel like immigration is a big problem right now, especially since we’re right by the border and there’s probably important stuff that we should be talking about related to that.”
