The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a hearing for 8 a.m. this Saturday. Two of the Foundation’s top legislative priorities will be on the agenda: HB 735, which would repeal the TIF phone tax; and HB 3430, which would create an online searchable database of state agency expenditures.
Taxes & Spending
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...
February 19, 2026