On Monday, March 13, AAHOA Chairman Neal Patel testified before the House Ways and Means Committee at the Texas Capitol in support of House Bill 2, also known as the Property Tax Relief Act.
HB 2 is a part of Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan’s priorities this legislative session. If HB 2 is passed, the 10% limit on how much a property appraisal can increase each year would be cut to 5% and apply to all properties in Texas, including commercial properties.
During his testimony, Patel welcomed the property tax relief legislation on behalf of the hospitality industry in Texas.
“As owners of income-producing commercial properties, property taxes are a burdensome cost of doing business in Texas. Year after year, we’ve seen increases in the property taxes that we’ve paid,” Patel shared in front of the House Ways and Means Committee. “For example, for one of our limited-service hotels in Round Rock, TX, we paid $53,000 in taxes in 2021. But on January 9, 2023, we paid $95,990 for the 2022 property taxes. Additionally, our hotels pay 270,000 in sales and local taxes.”
Patel also noted that hotel owners in Texas consider the high property taxes when deciding whether to expand their businesses in the Lone Star State or another state.
In Texas, AAHOA Members own an outstanding 89.1% of all the hotels and pay $1.5 billion in total lodging taxes. Additionally, they employ more than 270,000 employees, who earn more than $23 billion in wages, salaries, and other compensations.
“Thanks to AAHOA Chairman Neal Patel for testifying at the State Capitol on behalf of the hotel industry,” the Texas Hotel and Lodging Association shared on their Instagram account. “Mr. Patel testified to the House Ways and Means Committee on HB 2, which is meaningful property tax legislation for commercial businesses.”
You can watch Patel testify before the House Ways and Means Committee on HB 2 here. (Patel starts to testify at the 1:00:43 mark).Follow AAHOA and THLA for the latest updates on this legislation and more.