Lawmakers have handed Texas homeowners serious property tax relief over the past few years. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, the Legislature’s property tax guru, announced at a recent interim committee hearing that 40% of Texas homeowners no longer pay any school district taxes. Almost 61% of disabled homeowners and those age 65 or older pay no school taxes. Republicans’ strategy of repeatedly raising various homestead exemptions, and using surplus funds to substitute for local tax dollars, worked.

Now lawmakers need to pause and consider how far to continue down this path. Both the governor and lieutenant governor have said they’d like to eliminate residential property taxes, at least those related to schools, though they diverge on how to accomplish that goal. They should drop the idea altogether because it’s irresponsible and fundamentally unfair. It only benefits select Texans, jeopardizes school districts’ most reliable source of funding and contributes to the state’s “stuck” housing market.

No doubt, most homeowners who still pay school property tax would love to pay less. The strategy of flat-dollar exemptions, which Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has pushed, helps homeowners with lower-value properties the most, making it more equitable than a percentage discount.