By: Landon Fisher
Democratic candidates Mike Collier, for Lieutenant Governor, and Kendall Scudder for Texas Senate District 2 made a campaign appearance in Rockwall last week, speaking to a crowd of Rockwall Democrats and the blue-curious at the Harry Myers Community Center.
A Texas native, University of Texas graduate and career corporate accountant for giants such as Exxon and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Collier hopes to bring his message of property tax reform and bolstering public educationto the voters, and he’s doing it with an unlikely ally by his side – Scott Milder, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s opponent in the primary elections earlier this year.
Milder, a Rockwall resident and former Rockwall City Council member, is the founder and CEO of Friends of Texas Public Schools and has a career history in working with, representing and designing public school facilities.
Collier’s rallying cry throughout the event was a message as clear as possible: “Dan Patrick’s got to go.”
Collier explained that, in his view, the decline in Texas public education performance and the ever-growing increase in Texas residents’ property tax bills is not a mystery.
“Of course you’ll ask me where we’ll get the money (to improve schools and teacher benefits and pay) but back in 2014, I went and found it,” Collier said. “It’s hiding in plain sight. There is a defect in Texas property tax code that allows owners of large commercial properties to underpay their taxes.”
The loophole Collier mentions is the “Equal and Uniform” clause of Texas property tax code, a change introduced in 1997 and originally intended to address a unfair appraisal of a Houston shopping center. The clause allows commercial properties in Texas to be appraised relative to similar – but cheaper – properties in other areas of the state, which Collier says any large business would take advantage of.
“The owners of large commercial and industrial properties are not paying their equals share of taxes under the law,” Collier said. “It was obvious to everyone, immediately, that the law was improperly written.”
A study commissioned by then-Governor Rick Perry in 2006 found that approximately $4 billion was missing from annual property tax revenues due to the exploitation of the loophole, a number that, adjusted for inflation, is closer to $5 billion today.
“So that brings us to the power of the Lieutenant Governor, and let me tell you, some people say the Lieutenant Governor is one of the most powerful people in the state,” Collier said. “He can compel the Senate to vote to close that loophole – legislation is always proposed, and it always dies quietly in some committee.
On my watch, we will vote. And if anybody votes against it, I will beat them back to their district and let them know that their State Senator voted to keep their property taxes up and drive their schools down.”
Collier went on to say that his proposal is not a tax raise, but rather is simply enforcing the tax law as it currently exists.
After Collier spoke, Scudder joined him at the dais for a brief question and answer period, focusing many of his comments on the policies of his incumbent Republican opponent, Bob Hall (R – Edgewood).
“The things that Mike and I are fighting for aren’t about ‘left’ or ‘right,’ they’re about what’s right and wrong,” Scudder said.
“Senator Hall will tell you that, before he writes any bill, he asks himself if it’s ‘right for a moral person,’” Scudder said “The problem with that is that Senator Hall gets to decide what is and is not moral, and that guy’s never read the book of Matthew! Because when I was hungry, you wrote bills to eliminate school breakfasts; and when I was thirsty, you let corporations poison our water; and when I was a stranger, you pried my child from my arms and you locked her in a cage; and when I had no clothes, you gouged my pensions and you slashed my wages so I couldn’t afford any.”
In comments to the Herald-Banner, Collier reiterated that uproar over local tax rates and property appraisals are really not the core of the issue, and that growing property taxes for individuals are because corporations aren’t shouldering their share.
“On a per-student basis, inflation adjusted basis, Rockwall (ISD) is spending $1,000 less per student than it was in 2010, but it’s taxing $150 more per student,” Collier said. ‘This proves that the district is holding the line on spending. Texans all over the state are seeing property taxes go up, but the money is not being used for schools.”
Likewise, Collier expressed his belief that property value freezing, tax rate “swap and drop” schemes, and other hot-button issues are just Band-Aids to cover the funds lost by the “Equal and Uniform” loophole.
“You cannot get my opponent to address property taxes honestly, but it’s right there in black and white in the state property tax law.”