AUSTIN _ Business owners could exempt a quarter-million dollars worth of computers, furniture and other equipment from their annual taxes under legislation the Texas House overwhelmingly approved on Wednesday.

Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-University Park, brought forward the proposals that passed with 90% support in the GOP-dominated chamber. If the legislation passes the Texas Senate, voters will need to approve it in November for it to go into effect in this tax year.

The measures — House Bill 9 and House Joint Resolution 1 — are the cornerstone of House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ priority property tax reform package for the House.

The bill provides “the second largest exemption of its kind in the country and will provide substantial savings to businesses across the state,” Meyer said.

The legislation raises the personal property tax exemption for businesses from $2,500 to $250,000 – a tenfold increase in the amount of value that businesses owners don’t have to claim on items critical to their companies’ day-to-day operations.

Items that, supporters point out, owners already paid sales tax on when they purchased them. Avoiding a second round of taxes means they can put more into their families and businesses, said Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville.

“It’ll help them provide for their children, and that’s money that goes back into the economy,” Little said. “This bill helps those small businesses ensure that they can continue to operate those small businesses by accepting things that they already paid taxes on.”

Attempts to raise the exemption to $500,000 or a million dollars failed in floor votes.

About a dozen House members opposed the bill, arguing that local governments would have to make up the loss in revenue by raising prices for services — putting the tax cut for businesses on the backs of everyday Texans who may already struggle every day.

Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, said 82% of the businesses in Fort Worth would pay no taxes on personal business property at all if the exemption were increased to $250,000.

“This would have a huge loss to the city of Fort Worth, and it’s going to be a big burden to our taxpayers,” Collier said. “I’m trying to think of the other ways that they could make up the difference. Raising the water bill, raising garbage collection rates. These are all things that are passed on to the consumer.”

Meyer responded that if the cities can’t tighten their belts to make up for the lost revenue, that’s not the taxpayers’ problem.

“A lot of the local taxing entities are taking in way too much money as we speak,” he said. “They are taking it from our constituents, and so that would be something that they would need to deal with. But quite frankly, they take enough from our constituents as we sit here today.”