Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton is going after his General Election opponent’s voting record on Texas tax breaks.
When the Texas Senate was passing one of the state’s largest tax breaks, state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin — now the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate — called the legislation “deeply immoral” and said lawmakers who supported it “need to pay a price at the ballot box,” according to a news release from Paxton’s campaign.
The attack comes after Talarico’s latest seven-figure ad buy touts his work in the legislature to lower costs for Texas families, specifically through the passage of the massive property tax relief bill.
“This new ad is just the latest chapter in James Talarico’s never-ending saga of lies,” a spokesperson for Paxton’s campaign said in the release. “Texans shouldn’t believe a word of it.”
Talarico voted against House Joint Resolution 38, which banned state income taxes in Texas, and Senate Bill 2, which requires voter approval before local governments raise property taxes.
“Talarico has never met a tax hike he didn’t like,” the spokesperson stated. “He voted against protecting Texans from a state income tax, voted against making it harder to raise property taxes, opposed the largest tax cut in history for Texas families, and tried to drive away 475,000 jobs in the oil and gas industry.”
On the other hand, Talarico’s campaign insists he voted in favor of both Senate Bills 2 and 3 in 2023, touted as “the largest property tax cut in Texas history.” The same year, he sponsored Senate Bill 1145, which provided property tax exemptions for daycares and childcare centers, and in 2025 he joined Gov. Greg Abbott in passing a trio of bills to increase property tax exemptions for elderly and disabled Texans.
It appears the Senate Bill 2 being referenced by Paxton’s campaign was the bill aimed at expanding school vouchers in the state, which Talarico, a former public-school teacher, consistently rallied against.
“James was proud to vote for the largest property tax cut in Texas history,” Talarico campaign spokesperson J.T. Ennis said in an email. “And any assertion otherwise is a flat out lie.”
Adam Powell covers government and politics for the El Paso Times and can be reached via email at apowell@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Paxton slams Talarico over Texas tax break votes
Reporting by Adam Powell, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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By Adam Powell, El Paso Times | USA TODAY Network
