The Real Crisis Isn’t Just Property Taxes — It’s Insurance

Hook (use this as the opening line):

If your home is paid off but you’re still afraid of losing it, the problem isn’t ownership — it’s the system.

For weeks, Texans have been debating property taxes — and rightly so. Property taxes have become a crushing burden for retirees and working families alike, forcing people who did everything right to consider selling the homes they worked their entire lives to own.

But the comments I’m seeing tell a deeper, more troubling story.

Texas isn’t facing just a property tax problem.

Texas is facing an insurance crisis.

Home insurance premiums have exploded — even for paid-off homes. Auto insurance costs have doubled for older vehicles. Healthcare premiums are draining retirement incomes. Seniors are working part-time jobs not to get ahead, but just to survive.

When a homeowner is paying $500 to $1,600 a month in insurance — before taxes, utilities, or food — property taxes become only one piece of a much larger affordability crisis.

A paid-off home should mean security.

Instead, it has become a source of fear.

This didn’t happen overnight, and it isn’t the fault of homeowners. It’s the result of a system where risk is pushed downward, accountability is missing, and costs rise faster than incomes year after year. Insurance models are opaque. Regulatory oversight is weak. Consumers have no leverage — only bills.

At the same time, local governments continue to expand spending, increase assessments, and assume homeowners will simply absorb the cost. For retirees on fixed incomes, that assumption is devastating.

When someone nearing 70 years old is spending:

• Thousands per year on insurance for a paid-off home

• Thousands more on auto insurance for older vehicles

• Tens of thousands in property taxes

• And hundreds per month on healthcare

That is not prosperity.

That is pressure.

And when enough pressure builds, people are forced out — quietly, legally, and permanently.

Ending property taxes without fixing insurance, healthcare costs, and spending discipline doesn’t solve the problem. It simply shifts the burden from one bill to another. Texans deserve better than that.

We need serious reform — not slogans.

We need transparency — not talking points.

And we need leadership willing to say the uncomfortable truth:

If Texans can’t afford to stay in their homes after a lifetime of work, the system is broken — not the people.

#endpropertytax

That’s the conversation I’m committed to having. And that’s the crisis we need to fix.