Whether you’re in Austin or New York City, most everyone is pointing to “affordability” as the primary reason things turned out the way they did on Tuesday night, Nov. 4, 2025. NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is calling for more handouts and rent control, but by stark contrast Austinites demanded tax relief by defeating Prop. Q.
Unlike Mamdani’s narrow lead (50.4%), it wasn’t even close in Austin on election night: The proposed tax hike, which would have raised taxes just over 20% (making the average resident pay an estimated $300-400 extra per year — possibly $1,000 or more when combined with other local tax hikes), was shot down 63-37% with roughly 170,000 voters casting a ballot — high turnout for what is usually a sleepy state referendum and local election date.
The Travis County Taxpayers Union was behind the scenes working with partners such as Save Austin Now to defeat what was being billed as quite possibly the largest tax hike in Austin history. TCTU had boots on the ground placing signs, working polling sites, and manning street corners with signs of support. Together, opponents outraised and outworked the labor unions and “nonprofits” supporting Prop. Q, including several noteworthy billboards across town (see featured image).
Hard-working Travis County residents were already saddled with rising living costs, a tight job market, and high home prices. Evictions are on the rise, families are hurting, and we’re still licking our wounds from the July Fourth floods. It’s no wonder they had no appetite for yet another large tax increase after a series of them over the past seveal years from the city, county, and school district.
While city leaders are scurrying to revise the budget to reflect the No New Revenue rate, it’s clear some are not learning their lesson. Council member Vanessa Fuentes, as one example, predicted that paradmedic services may be cut — even though it’s clear there were plenty of ways to reconfigure the budget to avoid having to pass Prop. Q. See our previous post here.
We can expect a fair amount of retaliation. So what can taxpayers do now? We recommend a three-step process which, we’re happy to report, is likely to materialize in the weeks and months ahead.
- Recruit candidates. Although primary filing is opening on Saturday (Nov. 8), City Council candidates do not appear on the primary ballots. The Council candidate filing window is July 17 through Aug. 17, 2026, which means anyone wanting to take on any of the incumbents up for re-election would be wise to start getting their supporters and donors together now! Seats up include District 1 (Natasha Harper-Madison, Central and Northeast Austin); District 3 (Jose Velasquez, East and South Austin); District 5 (Ryan Alter, South Austin); District 8 (Paige Ellis, Southwest Austin); and District (Zo Qadri, Central Austin). Incumbents have already raked in around $200,000 combined. We recommend reaching out to the Travis GOP for more on that effort.
- Fund the lawsuit against Travis County. As stated above, Prop. Q wasn’t the only tax hike being considered. An “emergncy” tax hike approved by the Travis County Commissioners Court could raise taxes nearly $300. Former Austin Mayoral candidate Jeff Bowen and Lago Vista Mayor-elect Shane Saum (unopposed on Tuesday’s ballot, by the way) is suing Travis County, which he said used a flood disaster declaration as cover to raise property taxes by 9.12%—twice what was needed to respond to the actual disaster. “That’s not leadership, it’s opportunism,” he said. “The tax code is clear: Disaster exemptions are for emergencies, not excuses to bank more money. When government stretches the law to take more from citizens than necessary, it betrays the very people it’s meant to serve.” For more info on how to help email Lago4Shane@gmail.com.
- Push for an audit! We were excited to hear that Save Austin Now will immediately be pushing for an independent, top-down audit of city finances, possibly joining some other rumblings to that effect. Sadly, 58% of Austin voters defeated Proposition K in 2018, which would have done just that. Opponents were quick to label it as a “Republican tactic.” But this was before homeless camping inundated the city, inflation ran out of control under the Biden Administration, and government overreaction to COVID decimated local businesses. Residents are hurting now more than ever in the recent past, which may give another Prop. K effort renewed enthusiasm. Contact us if you’d like to get involved.
Run, sue, audit! Let’s do these three things and finish the taxpayer revolt voters started on Tuesday night.