2018-19 Supplemental Appropriations Limits

Assessing Tax Trends in the City of Austin

Does history suggest that property taxes are too high in the city of Austin? 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...

Bigger in Texas: Sizing Up the State’s Finances

Every even-numbered year, the state’s Legislative Budget Board (LBB) publishes a helpful, user-friendly summation of the General Appropriations Act (GAA), otherwise known as the state’s two-year budget. On Wednesday, the LBB published the next iteration—its 2024-25 Fiscal Size-Up. From a 30,000 ft. level, this new report provides “a comprehensive review of how tax dollars were...

Southern Spirit Line: High Voltage Hype, Low Impact for Texas

The proposed Southern Spirit transmission line connecting Texas to Louisiana and Mississippi has generated a lot of headlines over the past week, with my favorite coming from the publication Electrek: “Hell froze over in Texas—the state will connect to the U.S. grid for the first time via a fed grant.” I laughed. The article fails...