355 Texas Cities.
One Simple Plan.
Zero Property Taxes.
Using official Texas Comptroller data, we calculated exactly what every Home Rule city collects today — and what they would collect under a flat 5% sales tax that eliminates property taxes entirely. The math works. Here is the proof.
Property Taxes Are Broken by Design
Every year, Texas cities, school districts, counties, and special purpose districts collect taxes based on what your property is worth — not what you earn, not what you spend, and not whether you can afford it. If your home's assessed value rises, your tax bill rises with it, even if your income does not. Retirees on fixed incomes lose homes they have owned for decades. Families are priced out of neighborhoods they built.
In 2024, the 355 Texas cities with populations over 5,000 — called "Home Rule" cities under Texas Constitution Article XI, §5 — levied $14.76 billion in property taxes. Their school districts levied an additional $25.49 billion. That is nearly $40 billion in annual taxes collected purely on the basis of property ownership, with no relationship to economic activity, income, or ability to pay.
The Texas 5% Plan proposes to end this entirely — replacing all property taxes with a simple flat sales tax applied to every transaction in the Texas economy, at a rate low enough to remain competitive while generating enough revenue to make every taxing entity whole.
How a 5% Flat Sales Tax Replaces Everything
The key insight is that Texas already collects sales taxes — but on a narrow, heavily-exempted base at fragmented rates. The plan expands the base to the full gross economy and sets a single unified rate, distributing the proceeds to replace every layer of property taxation.
The Rate Structure
| Layer | Rate | Recipient | Revenue on $3,468.3B Base |
|---|---|---|---|
| State | 0.75% | State of Texas | $26.0B |
| County | 0.75% | County governments | $26.0B |
| City | 3.50% | Cities (Home Rule & others) | $121.4B |
| Total Rate | 5.00% → $173.4B | ||
Why the Revenue Is So Much Larger
Today, Texas cities collect their 2% local sales tax on approximately $784.9 billion in taxable transactions — a base that excludes most services, many business inputs, and hundreds of categorical exemptions. The Texas 5% Plan removes those exemptions and applies the tax to the full gross economic base of $3,468.3 billion — 4.42 times larger.
Example — Houston: $923M ST × 7.733 = $7.14B plan revenue vs. $2.63B current combined need
Statewide Revenue Comparison
Across all 355 Home Rule cities, the Texas 5% Plan generates more than enough revenue to replace both city sales tax allocations and city property tax levies — with substantial surplus remaining to absorb school district property taxes as well.
| Revenue Stream | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| City Sales Tax — 2022 | $7.52B | Dec. YTD, TX Comptroller |
| City Sales Tax — 2023 | $7.86B | Dec. YTD, TX Comptroller |
| City Sales Tax — 2024 | $8.01B | Dec. YTD, TX Comptroller |
| City Sales Tax — 2025 | $8.35B | Dec. YTD, TX Comptroller |
| City Property Tax Levy — 2024 | $14.76B | TX Comptroller City Rates & Levies |
| Combined City Revenue Need (2025 ST + 2024 PT) | $23.11B | Both replaced by plan |
| ISD Property Tax Levy — 2024 (matched ISDs) | $25.49B | TX Comptroller ISD Rates & Levies |
| City + ISD Combined Need | $48.60B | |
| Texas 5% Plan City Revenue @ 3.50% | $64.57B | 7.733× current ST allocation |
| Surplus After City ST + PT Replaced | +$41.45B | Available for ISDs & specials |
| Surplus After City + ISD Need Covered | +$15.97B | 268 of 355 cities cover ISD too |
Plan Revenue vs. Current Need — By Population Tier
Look Up Every Home Rule City
All 355 Texas cities with populations over 5,000. Search by name, filter by tier, sort any column. Values in millions of dollars ($M). Sources: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts official data files.
| City | Population | Tier | ST 2022 ($M) | ST 2023 ($M) | ST 2024 ($M) | ST 2025 ($M) | City PT 2024 ($M) | ISD PT 2024 ($M) | Plan Rev. ($M) | Surplus ($M) | Covers City? |
|---|
* ISD PT 2024 matched by city name to ISD name (e.g., "Austin" → "Austin ISD"). Cities without a direct name match show $0 — this understates ISD coverage. "Covers City?" = Plan Revenue ≥ (ST 2025 + City PT 2024). Data: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
How These Numbers Were Calculated
Home Rule Eligibility
Texas Constitution Article XI, §5 allows any incorporated city with a population over 5,000 to adopt a home rule charter. Eligibility was determined using the Texas Comptroller's official MGRT Population file (2020 U.S. Decennial Census). 355 cities met or exceeded the 5,000 threshold.
Sales Tax Allocations
Annual sales tax allocations for 2022–2025 were retrieved from the Texas Comptroller's Sales Tax Allocation dataset (Texas Open Data Portal, dataset vfba-b57j). The December report's payments_to_date field represents the full calendar-year total for each city.
Property Tax Levies
City and ISD property tax levies were sourced from the Texas Comptroller's official 2024 City Rates & Levies and 2024 School District Rates & Levies Excel files, published pursuant to Tax Code §5.09. The Calculated Levy column represents the total dollars assessed. Split-county cities are aggregated.
Plan Revenue Formula
Each city's plan revenue = (City ST 2025 ÷ 2.0%) × 4.419 × 3.5%, where 4.419 = $3,468.3B full gross base ÷ $784.9B current taxable base. The 3.5% is the plan's city rate cap. This assumes each city's share of the full base is proportional to its current share of the narrow base — a conservative assumption, as urban areas typically have higher service-sector concentrations that grow more on the expanded base.
Full Gross Tax Base
$3,468.3 billion is derived from Texas Comptroller Quarterly Sales Tax reports and Tax Exemptions & Tax Incidence Report No. 96-463, which documents the full gross economic base before exemption removals. The current ~$784.9B narrow base represents approximately 22.6% of that gross figure.
ISD Matching
ISDs were matched to cities by name (e.g., "Houston" → "Houston ISD"). Cities without a same-name ISD show $0 in the ISD column — this is a data gap, not a revenue gap. The 268 cities shown as covering ISD need are a conservative floor; the actual number is higher.
Data Sources & References
All data used in this analysis comes directly from official Texas government sources. Click any link to access the original data file.
- Plan Document Campbell, W. (2025). We can end property taxes [Plan document]. Will Campbell for Texas. https://www.willcampbellfortexas.com/releases/we-can-end-property-taxes
- Population Data Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. (2020). Population of incorporated cities or towns in Texas for MGRT [Data file; 2020 U.S. Decennial Census]. comptroller.texas.gov — MGRT Population CSV
- Sales Tax Allocations — City (2022–2025) Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. (2025). Sales tax allocation — City: December YTD annual totals [Data set]. Texas Open Data Portal. data.texas.gov — Dataset vfba-b57j
- City Property Tax Rates & Levies — 2024 Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. (2025). 2024 city rates and levies [Data file; Tax Code §5.09]. comptroller.texas.gov — 2024-city-rates-levies.xlsx
- ISD Property Tax Rates & Levies — 2024 Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. (2025). 2024 school district rates and levies [Data file; Tax Code §5.09]. comptroller.texas.gov — 2024-school-district-rates-levies.xlsx
- Full Gross Tax Base Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. (2025). Tax exemptions and tax incidence, Report No. 96-463. comptroller.texas.gov — Report 96-463 (PDF)
- Constitutional Authority Texas Constitution art. XI, §5 — Home Rule Cities. statutes.capitol.texas.gov — Texas Constitution Art. XI
- Property Tax Code Texas Tax Code §5.09 — Annual Study of Tax Rates and Levies. statutes.capitol.texas.gov — Tax Code §5.09
Analysis conducted March 2026. All figures in nominal dollars. Data generated by automated retrieval from official Comptroller data sources and cross-referenced against published annual totals.