The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Texas House Bill 98 repeals school property taxes and enacts state and local value-added taxes
Last action · August 20, 2025: Referred to Ways & MeansSponsors: Helen Kerwin and 1 other
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What This Bill Proposed
Beginning January 1, 2030, this bill prohibits school districts from levying maintenance and operations property taxes, replaces them with state and local value-added taxes, and institutes sweeping school finance reforms.
- Texas school districts currently rely heavily on local ad valorem (property) maintenance and operations taxes to fund public education alongside state allocations from the Foundation School Program. context
- Value-added taxes (VAT) are consumption taxes placed on a product whenever value is added at each stage of the supply chain, which is a departure from traditional retail sales taxes. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
School Districts
School districts lose the authority to levy maintenance and operations ad valorem property taxes and must transition to state funding and local value-added taxes.
Taxpayers
Small businesses
Small businesses are exempted by rule from the state value-added tax by the comptroller.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to local sales taxes under this bill?
Are any entities exempt from the new state value-added tax?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in House committee.
Procedural history
3 actions- Aug 20, 2025HouseCommitteeReferred to Ways & Means
- Aug 20, 2025HouseIntroducedRead first time
- Aug 15, 2025HouseIntroducedFiled
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Transition from Property and Sales Taxes to Value-Added Taxes
The bill proposes a fundamental structural shift in Texas public finance by eliminating school district M&O property taxes and local sales taxes in favor of state and local value-added taxes.
Connected Entities
Sources
capitol.texas.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 90)
- Controversy85Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz75Current news / social attention level
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