The RLC of Texas is gearing up for the 2017 Texas Legislative Session. This session’s focus will be on at least two issues of major importance to liberty advocates everywhere: property tax reform and civil asset forfeiture reform.
On Property Tax Reform:
Liberty advocates worked diligently during the Texas convention season to push for the addition of a section of legislative priorities to the Platform of the Republican Party of Texas. The list of priorities would signal to the legislators what Republicans wanted them to focus on while they were in session.
The property tax reform priority item reads: “To replace the property tax system with an alternative other than the income tax and require voter approval to increase the overall tax burden.”
The property tax burdens carried by property owners in Texas continues to mount. As municipalities increasingly look to property tax revenues to support bond issuance and ever-expanding budgets, taxpayers require relief from their current bills as well as the future obligations for which they will be made liable as well. Texans have been fighting for property tax reform for years, but the RLC of Texas believes that since the issue has been given the additional support of a legislative priority, legislators will find passing the buck on the issue much more difficult in future sessions.
On Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform:
One of the most overlooked issues of civil liberties in our time is the deplorable practice of Civil Asset Forfeiture. RLC of Texas is also designating the reform of the CAF system in Texas a major legislative priority for the 2017 session. Several legislators are already working on crafting bills to rein in or otherwise curtail these practices, and the RLC of Texas will be working to increase the number of legislators backing reform.
We hope to see such reforms in upcoming bills as:
- provisions to require exact accounting for funds and assets seized by municipalities and LEOs
- provisions for raising the burden of proof required to permanently seize assets
- provisions for property owners to contest the seizure of their assets
- protections for innocent owners
What You Can Do:
- Follow RLC TX on Twitter and Facebook
- Learn about the issues
- Bookmark this website to stay on top of the legislative session as it happens
- Find your legislators HERE
- Contact your legislators to let them know you support property tax and civil asset forfeiture reform
- Join us when we travel to Austin during the session to speak with legislators face-to-face
So the Tea Party and Libertarians are going to give Hillary the presidency. 🙁 So sad for the USA. Get behind Trump and Make America Great Again.
This article had nothing to do with Mr. Trump and was about legislation in Texas. And, for the record, we’re fairly confident in Mr. Trump’s ability to allow Hillary to win on his own merit without anyone’s help.