Sen. Taylor Rehmet peaks during the Clearing The Way ceremony for the National Juneteenth Museum on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026 in Fort Worth.
Abigail Dollins
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The Republican Party of Texas is accusing state Sen. Taylor Rehmet, a Fort Worth Democrat, of illegally taking a full property tax exemption on a property he rents out.
Rehmet received national attention in a January special election runoff when he defeated his Republican opponent, Leigh Wambasganss, in a district that President Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024. That election gave him a partial senate term representing much of North and West Tarrant County.
Now, Rehmet and Wambsganss are in a Nov. 3 rematch for a full term. Up and down the ballot, Republicans are worried about Democratic gains in what is looking to be Texas’ most competitive election cycle in decades. Early voting runs through Oct. 30.
Many Democrats have centered their campaigns on affordability and the working person — a move out of Rehmet’s playbook from January.
With the cost of living as a top ballot issue, it’s no surprise property taxes have become a source of campaign fodder, including in the Senate District 9, where the Texas GOP claims Rehmet doesn’t pay his fair share.
Rehmet — U.S. Air Force veteran, aircraft mechanic and union leader — disputes that attack line, but he and his campaign have avoided answering many of the Star-Telegram’s questions when working to check the claims.
So did Rehmet skirt paying property taxes? Here’s what we know.
The advertisements
A website and mailer from the Texas GOP claim Rehmet is illegally applying the state’s general homestead exemption and an exemption granted to disabled veterans to a rental property he owns. The party claims he lives at a friend’s house.
In Texas, homeowners are granted a $140,000 homestead exemption on their primary residence when paying school property taxes. That means $140,000 is deducted from a home’s appraised value for the purpose of calculating the tax.
Disabled veterans can also qualify for separate property tax exemptions, including a homestead exemption on the total appraised value of their primary residence.
A video ad displays images of the home in question, which is in Fort Worth’s Greenway neighborhood, property tax records and a Zillow listing that shows the property as available to rent.
A full address for the Fort Worth house is displayed at points. The address is publicly available online.
“Taylor Rehmet wants you to think he’s a regular guy: A man of the people,” a voiceover says in the ad. “He says he’s fighting for you on property taxes. Here’s what he doesn’t say. Taylor Rehmet doesn’t pay property taxes like you do.”
The voiceover continues: “His rent house is listed as a homestead, which is against the law. He also claims a 100% disability exemption. Property taxes owed? Zero. You pay, and you keep paying. Taylor Rehmet doesn’t. Taylor Rehmet: Wrong for Texas.”
Video footage of Rehmet doing pull-ups plays as the ad notes the disability exemption, implying he doesn’t need the exemption that’s given to veterans with service-related disabilities. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs determines a veteran’s disability status, which can be for physical conditions like a chronic illness or injury or mental health conditions like PTSD.
A QR code links to a website elaborating on the ad’s claim that Rehmet doesn’t pay property taxes. Disclosures at the bottom of the website, video ad and related mailer state that they’re paid for by the Republican Party of Texas.
The Texas Republican Party of Texas’s video ad was shared by a reporter for Texas Bullpen on social media on Oct. 21. The state party did not return requests for comment.
Taylor Rehmet’s response
In a written statement to the Star-Telegram, Rehmet said he does pay property taxes. He did not directly address the allegation that he’s illegally using tax exemptions on a rental property.
“Suggesting that I don’t pay property taxes is a lie,” Rehmet said. “I have complied with all Texas laws regarding my Disabled Veteran exemption status. Attacking me for being a disabled veteran is an attack on all disabled veterans. Do better, GOP.”
The senator was not made available for an interview.
Neither he nor his campaign answered emailed questions about where he lives and for how long, whether the property highlighted in the ad is rented out to a tenant, his response to claims he’s acting illegally and what properties he pays taxes on.
His campaign also did not provide documentation, as requested, to support his written statement.
A spokesperson did share a 2001 Texas attorney general opinion that she said concludes “rental of property does not cause property to lose homestead exemption under Texas law.” (More on that later.)
In an Oct. 14 campaign fundraising text message, Rehmet said he’s “being attacked over my status as a disabled veteran,” but the message doesn’t say which specific attacks he’s referring to.
“Let me be clear: My service is real,” the message reads. “My disabilities are real. And I will not apologize for either.”
The message continues, “I never asked for special treatment. I went through the VA’s medical evaluation process used by millions of Americans — and received a legitimate determination. If you believe veterans deserve respect, not political smears, I hope you’ll stand with me.”
What we know
Tarrant County Appraisal District records show three properties owned by Rehmet as of Jan. 1, including the Greenway property highlighted in the video ad, which was purchased in January 2021. He also owns vacant land in the same neighborhood and a home in far east Fort Worth.
The property in the ad receives both the general homestead exemption and the exemption for veterans who are 100% disabled, according to the appraisal district website.
The Tarrant County Appraisal District received a request from Rehmet last week to remove the exemptions, and are in the process of doing so, the appraisal district said in a Monday email. He has been in touch with the exemption office since Oct. 15, and the official request was made on Oct. 23, according to TAD.
“He originally qualified for the exemptions, and now he does not so he requested it to be removed since he no longer qualifies,” according to the appraisal district.
The property is listed as a source of rental income on Rehmet’s personal financial statements for 2025 and 2026 filed in October of last year and January. It brought in between $10,760 and $21,520 in 2024 and less than $11,120 in 2025, according to the financial statements filed with the Texas Ethics Commission and obtained through open records requests.
Rehmet does not appear to live in the Greenway neighborhood home.
When the Star-Telegram knocked on the door of the home on Friday, a man answered who said he was painting the house. He said it was vacant, and the home appeared empty.
Rehmet provided the address of a home that he doesn’t own when asked for his address in the Star-Telegram’s candidate questionnaire for the January special election. For the runoff, he responded “N/A.”
The same address previously provided to the Star-Telegram is used for his voter registration, according to Tarrant County’s voter registration search tool.
The home is near the one in the Republican political ad and, according to TAD, is owned by William Sharpe. Sharpe and Rehmet were featured in a March 2024 Star-Telegram article about people buying new homes in the Greenway neighborhood as development moves in.
In the article, Rehmet said he moved to Greenway in January 2021 after living in a D.R. Horton community in east Fort Worth.
What that means
All that’s to say: Yes – Rehmet does appear to be taking a full homestead exemption on a property he doesn’t live in, which means he’s not paying property taxes on the home. He has asked that the exemptions be removed.
Whether that falls ill of the law is more nuanced. (And an incorrect exemption isn’t criminal, unless there is knowing deception, says Chandler Crouch, a real estate broker and senior property tax consultant.)
While the homestead exemption for disabled veterans is intended for a person’s main home where they live, there are some scenarios where it could still apply to a rental property, Crouch said.
If a veteran is 100% disabled and married to another veteran who is 100% disabled, then there’s an exception that lets the property tax exemption be applied to the primary home and a second home, including a rental, Crouch said.
If Rehmet was living in the home as of Jan. 1 and moved out later in the year, it’s also possible the exemption stayed with the home for the remainder of year, even though he no longer resides there.
“However, I think that the possibility of that is narrow,” Crouch said. “I think it’s more likely that there was an error. Whether it was intentional or unintentional is unknown.”
Beyond Rehmet’s written statement, the aforementioned 2001 attorney general’s opinion is the only information the senator’s campaign provided to the Star-Telegram.
The opinion from then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn delves into how homestead exemptions apply to a home that is being fully or partially rented out. It concludes that a partially rented property can still have a homestead exemption applied, with caveats.
For fully rented out homes: If an owner doesn’t establish another primary residence and is only temporarily not living there, then the home retains its residence homestead status, per the opinion. Temporarily is less than 2 years, under Texas law.
What happened in Rehmet’s case? That’s unclear, without more details about his past and current living situation.
This story was originally published October 26, 2026 at 11:42 AM.
Follow More of Our Reporting on Reality Check
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Eleanor (Elly) Dearman is a Texas politics and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She’s based in Austin, covering the Legislature and its impact on North Texas. She grew up in Denton and has been a reporter for more than six years.
Support my work with a digital subscription