WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Proposition 8 is on November's ballot and if passed it would ban a tax from being imposed on inherited property following the passing of a loved one.
On the ballot it reads: "The constitutional amendment to prohibit the legislature from imposing death taxes applicable to a decedent's property or the transfer of an estate, inheritance, legacy, succession, or gift."
“In making sure that you don’t have another tax sneak in,” said Waco's State Representative Pat Curry.
25 News' Bobby Poitevint followed up by asking, “is this something more so — because the language isn’t already on the books, this just puts that language of not being able to allow it on the books?”
Rep. Curry replied, “very simple yes."
As mentioned in the House Research Organization bill analysis, critics said this “could hinder future legislatures from acting in the best interest of the state and lead to unintended consequences.”
"Constitutional amendments should be reserved for the most critical matters concerning the state, and there is currently no proposal in the Legislature to institute a death tax,” the bill analysis said.
Rep. Curry explained why this is important now and said if passed Proposition 8 would be a safeguard to protect Texans in the future.
"Because the intent in the State of Texas is to show that we do not want to have an income tax of any form and other states have been able to try to get around that because of inheritance tax and put those in. So again, once you pass a constitutional amendment the voters have decided and that keeps it from coming back unless the voters decide to put one in,” Rep. Curry said.
