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Businesses that pay the franchise tax in Texas would get a significant break in their annual bill under a measure approved unanimously by the Senate on Wednesday. Part of a package of bills passed by the Senate that includes billions in cuts for residential and business property tax rates, SB 32, by Houston Senator Paul Bettencourt, would allow businesses to write off up to 20 percent of inventory. Texas is one of a handful of states that fully assess property taxes, but the bill would allow them to receive a tax credit for a fifth of the inventory held here in Texas and apply that to their franchise tax bill. This will apply to hundreds of thousands of small business owners in Texas, said Bettencourt. “There are approximately 130,000 franchise tax filers – we think approximately 59 percent – that have a retail or cost-ofgoods- sold deduction that may be able to benefit from the inventory tax credit,” he said. This provision is funded by a $500 million appropriation in the Senate version of the state budget. Should claims exceed this amount, the rebate would be pro rated based on the number of applicants divided by the available funds.