In a news release, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick provided an overview for his priorities for the funds the Comptroller Hegar forecasted with the updated CRE:
- Last session, in 2021, I said in any year where we have a budget surplus, the first dollars should go back to property tax relief in that year; I support using an additional $4 billion for property tax relief next year;
- Permanently increase the homestead exemption to $60,000, and ultimately my goal is to increase that to $100,000 in future years;
- Suspend the state gas tax for the remainder of 2022;
- Allocate the funding to continue to pay for teacher’s raises while also maintaining our education funding and cuts to school property taxes that we passed in 2019; and
- Provide another 13th check for retired teachers.