Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton Demands Doc­u­ments from Over 1,000 Munic­i­pal­i­ties as Part of New Effort to Stop Cities From Ille­gal­ly Rais­ing Taxes

Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating over 1,000 cities across Texas to ensure they are complying with state law that requires financial transparency and to prevent unlawful tax increases on Texans. 

During the most recent legislative session, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 1851, which requires cities to complete and publicly post annual financial audits by a specified deadline. Under the law, municipalities that fail to meet these auditing and transparency requirements are prohibited from increasing property tax revenue beyond the previous year’s level. 

Attorney General Paxton previously demanded documents from cities to ensure they are in compliance with the law. To ensure statewide compliance with the law in this new fiscal year, Attorney General Paxton has again requested financial documents and information from Texas cities to ensure that they meet audit and transparency requirements before they raise taxes on Texans. 

Some of the largest cities included in the investigation that must turn over documents are Houston, Conroe, Sugar Land, Galveston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock, Wichita Falls, McAllen, Beaumont, Amarillo, El Paso, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Texarkana, Victoria, Brownsville, Waco, Abilene, San Angelo, and Tyler.

“I will not allow any Texas city to unlawfully increase taxes. That is why my office is reviewing the actions of over 1,000 cities to ensure that they are complying with transparency requirements and not attempting to illegally raise property taxes,” said Attorney General Paxton. “I am demanding that cities prioritize transparency and work to minimize the tax burden of every citizen across the state. While many cities have complied with these requirements, I will continue to fight to ensure that every municipality across our state is following the law.” 

The Office of the Attorney General has created a complaint form that Texans can fill out if they believe local officials are violating SB 1851’s audit requirements and unlawfully raising taxes. The complaint form can be found here.