Overview
- Patrick proposes raising the school homestead exemption to $180,000 from $140,000 and lowering the age for a frozen school-tax valuation to 55, with seniors and disabled homeowners shielding up to $240,000 of value.
- He says the age change would affect roughly 3.3 to 3.5 million of the state’s about 6 million homeowners, noting the median homeowner age is 58 and many own homes at or below $332,000.
- Patrick estimates a biennial cost of about $4 billion and signaled a still-to-be-detailed plank to restrain local tax growth, with action expected in the 2027 legislative session after the 2026 campaigns.
- He argues abolishing school property taxes for homeowners would require a steep sales-tax hike to roughly 14% and criticized broad appraisal caps as distorting the housing market.
- Abbott is pushing a rival plan to eliminate school property taxes on homesteads via constitutional amendment, cap appraisals at 3% with five-year appraisals, and tighten local spending, asserting state surpluses can fund the shift without raising existing taxes.