Testimony: Eliminate the Margin Tax to Reach Texans’ Full Potential

March 30, 2016

Vance Ginn, Ph.D.

Vance Ginn, Ph.D., is an accomplished economist finding free-market solutions that let people prosper. He is founder and president of Ginn Economic Consulting where he provides high-quality research and trusted insights on how to affect change at the federal, state, and local levels. Ginn’s experience includes time in public policy, government, and academia. He is chief economist at Pelican Institute for Public Policy and a senior fellow at several think tanks, including at Americans for Tax Reform, Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), and Young Americans for Liberty.

Simply put, businesses don’t pay taxes; people do in the form of higher prices, lower wages, and fewer jobs available. Given that taxes exist to fund essential government services, the least burdensome taxes should fund conservative budgets, which grow by no more than population growth plus inflation.

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Winners & Losers: The Fight for Western Civilization (and beating Canada)

Every Friday morning, I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk 1370 Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. Next week you can join us at the Texas Public Policy Foundation for Winners and Losers LIVE. Click here for more info. See you there. Here’s who made this week’s list....

February 20, 2026

Taxes & Spending

Invited Testimony to the House Committee on Ways & Means: Property Tax-Related Interim Charges

Chairman Meyer and Members of the Committee, My name is James Quintero, and I am a policy director with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a nonpartisan research institute based in Austin, Texas. Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee today on last session’s historic property tax relief package and the current environment. My...

October 2, 2024

Taxes & Spending

Assessing Tax Trends in the City of Dallas

Does history suggest that property taxes are too high in the city of Dallas? And, if so, have local decision-makers actively helped or hurt the situation? To help answer these questions, let’s review the city’s 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) and gather four types of data—i.e., tax levies, local population, total tax rates, and taxable values—over a 10-year time horizon. Using these audited estimates, we can gauge the growth of government (i.e., tax levy trends), assess its reasonability...

February 18, 2026

Vance Ginn, Ph.D.

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Winners & Losers: The Fight for Western Civilization (and beating Canada)

Invited Testimony to the House Committee on Ways & Means: Property Tax-Related Interim Charges

Assessing Tax Trends in the City of Dallas