The Texas House is trying to revive a program to give polluting industries exemptions from property taxes for schools. Originally “House Bill 5”, the subbed in version is known as “Committee Substitute House Bill 5” or CSHB 5 has passed out of committee and could be heading to the House floor very soon.
Unfortunately, many members -- including my very own otherwise progressive Representative -- have signed onto the bill, due in part to misinformation being spread. But it’s not too late to turn this around. Send an email now to urge your Texas state representative to oppose CSHB 5.
MORE INFORMATION: This tax exemption will cost billions of dollars and lawmakers have written the bill to exclude wind and solar energy projects. But even when they were included in the previous program, the majority of the tax breaks went to polluting facilities that are owned by companies that were already doing business in Texas and didn’t need a tax break to be convinced to keep polluting our communities.
Lawmakers try to make this bill look like it's about creating jobs, but the reality is that many of the projects that benefited in the past created very few jobs, sometimes costing taxpayers millions of dollars per job created. This bill isn’t about jobs - it’s about propping up polluting industries.
Let your state representative know that you oppose this corporate giveaway bill.
