Thread by @dlavine

So all this I hear about #Chapter313 payments to school districts? Who wins and who loses? #txlege #txed 1/6

If a company just paid its fair share of school taxes then, because local property tax revenue would go up, state aid would go down (or recapture increase), and the district revenue per student would be unchanged. That’s the basic rule of school finance equity. #txlege #txed 2/6

But what if a firm gets a 313 tax break, then kicks back part of its tax savings to the district? The district’s property tax revenue is unchanged, since it’s not taxing the project, so state aid (and revenue per student) is unchanged, and the district pockets the payment. 3/6

The company gets to keep most of the tax break, the district gets the payments, and the state has to make up for the foregone property taxes. So there's less for everyone else. One lucky district wins; every other district loses. 4/6 #txlege #txed

If the full amount of property taxes were collected from the 313 projects, and the state maintained its contribution, there would be more money to be spread around through the funding formulas. #txlege #txed 5/6

So payments to school districts make sense at the micro level and is destructive at the macro level. The winners know they are winners and the losers don't know what it's costing them. #txlege #txed 6/6