Last November, Texas voters approved 17 constitutional amendments, including one that would allow the surviving spouses of disabled veterans, whose deaths were connected to their service, to receive property tax breaks on their homes.
Proposition 7 was approved overwhelmingly by more than 86% of voters, and the state anticipated there would be no significant cost.
But during a recent presentation to the Commissioners Court, Bexar County’s Budget and Finance Department attributed a $1.3 billion property value loss in its upcoming budget to “the disabled veteran’s widows qualifying for their spouse’s exemption.”
Data provided to the San Antonio Report from the Bexar County Appraisal District shows that the 11.136 Qualifying Veteran Surviving Spouse (QVSS) exemption, the new exemption for this tax year to account for Proposition 7, only included 73 new properties at a $24.7 million cost.
“Currently our system indicates that we have only 73 properties with the new Veteran’s Surviving Spouse exemption with a total exempted amount of $24,797,593 in value,” Chief Appraiser Rogelio Sandoval said.
Though the budget presentation does not specifically cite Proposition 7, it cites “new exemptions approved during the legislative session.” The Bexar County Appraisal District said Prop 7 is the only new change from the legislative session that would have an impact on military widows and homestead exemptions. They also said the 11.136 QVSS exemption is a standalone exemption — and it did not have an impact on other exemptions.
The appraisal district said on Tuesday that in regard to the presentation attributing a $1.3 billion property value loss to disabled veterans’ widows, they were “not sure why the data was presented that way.”
Last year, the state estimated that around 3,000 surviving spouses could qualify for the exemption, outlined in Proposition 7 (House Joint Resolution 133). Surviving spouses, so long as they do not remarry, would be exempt from paying property taxes, and the state would have to make up the revenue for the local school districts.
The move was celebrated by widows around the state.
“For too long, the system treated ‘combat death’ and ‘service-connected death’ as different. Prop 7 changes that. It recognizes that dying because of service — whether on the battlefield or years later in a hospital bed — still means that family paid the ultimate price,” wrote Texas military widow Tori Seals on Facebook after the amendment passed.
State Rep. Chris Turner, D- Grand Prairie, wrote the accompanying legislation (House Bill 2508) to the proposition, in order to more closely align Texas with a federal veteran benefits bill called the PACT ACT. Passed in 2022, the PACT Act expanded benefit claim eligibility for veterans and their survivors for disabilities related to aspects of service such as toxic exposure and burn pits.
Proposition 7 grants residence homestead exemptions for surviving spouses of veterans who died as a result of any of the qualifying conditions listed in the PACT Act. The deceased did not have to hold a 100% disability rating at the time of their death for their spouse to qualify.
A fiscal note from the state’s Legislative Budget Board said that “no significant fiscal implication to the state is anticipated.”
Other Texas counties reported small impacts from the new exemption.
The largest county in the state, Harris, which also has the largest veteran population, observed a fraction of the impact compared to the $1.3 billion reported in the Bexar County budget.
“There are only four applicable accounts in Harris County, and they are all SSPs (Surviving Spouse PACT Vet). The SSP exempt value amount is $1,480,181,” the Harris County Appraisal District said.
In El Paso County, which encompasses Fort Bliss, the cost of exemptions was still far below that of Bexar County. As of certification, El Paso County’s appraisal district reports 9 new surviving spouse exemptions, accounting for a value loss of $2.3 million.
Bexar County saw about a 1.3% decrease in its net taxable values this year — about $3.2 billion — compared to last year’s certifications. The county is projecting its worst financial year since 2008, which it blames partially on sinking property values and newly passed state policies allowing for more tax exemptions.
Even the longstanding Disabled Veteran Homestead Surviving Spouse (DVHSS) exemption, which has been in effect since 2011 and allows a tax break for the surviving spouses of 100% disabled veterans, did not report even close to a $1.3 billion increase. This category saw an increase of approximately $53 million, as 172 new spouses applied for the exemption in fiscal year 2026, according to appraisal district data.
It appears the $1.3 billion increase cited in the budget could have come from the Disabled Veteran Homestead (DVHS) exemption. For the last 17 years in the state of Texas, 100% disabled veterans have not had to pay property taxes.
Last year in Bexar County, this population accounted for $12.7 billion in exemptions, which has increased in 2026 to $14 billion, county data shows.
An increase of $1.3 billion from 2025 to 2026 in this category is actually much less than the increase between 2024 to 2025. Over that fiscal year, the Disabled Veteran Homestead exemption increased by more than $4 billion.
Last year’s proposed budget presentation made no mention of that $4 billion increase in exemptions. The $2 billion increase the previous year was also not mentioned in that year’s proposed budget. In this year’s presentation, the $1.3 billion dollar change in that category was highlighted on the third slide, and tied to military widows.
“One of the factors that resulted in our lower property taxes was our new exemption. There’s two exemptions that exist, but they were expanded during the last state legislature,” Budget and Finance Director Tanya Gaitan said.
“The first one is, we lost 1.3 billion dollars in values to extend widows to keep the exemption of their late spouse’s qualifying exemption, so that …decreased rather our property by $1.3 billion.”
The Disabled Veteran Homestead exemption, which saw the $1.3 billion change, is neither new nor is it specifically for widows. It has been in effect since 2009 and it is for disabled veterans.
The only new exemption that can be directly tied to both the last legislative session and military widows is the $24 million in Qualifying Veteran Surviving Spouse (QVSS) exemptions.
For some surviving spouses, the impact of Proposition 7 is more than just a monetary tax break.
“This amendment means more than tax relief. It’s dignity codified into law,” Seals said in a blog post. “I’ve spent years watching surviving spouses fight through paperwork and policy just to be recognized — to prove that their loss was worthy of compassion or consideration. Prop 7 doesn’t fix everything, but it’s a step forward.”
The San Antonio Report’s military and veterans coverage is supported by Report for America.
This story originally appeared in the San Antonio Report.
