With a number of tax structure modification alternatives are under consideration by policymakers in Texas, one alternative is to fund a property tax reduction with an increase in the sales tax. The size of the property tax reduction being discussed is about 50% of the current levy for school maintenance and operations, or $8.5 billion in 2005. The tax change is reviewed from the perspective of several recognized characteristics of good tax policy. This paper analyzes five alternative formulations (scenarios) of the tax shift according to various sales tax rate and sales tax base-broadening options.
Higher Education
Student-Athletes Are Not Employees
College athletics is approaching a crossroads. After years of rapid, sweeping change in student-athlete compensation practices that have left a patchwork of state regulation in its wake, some in Congress now propose to reclassify collegiate student‑athletes across the country as employees of their universities. While we sympathize with the desire to provide certainty and uniformity to student-athletes and universities, and although we see the need for some revenue-sharing framework, workplace regulation...
May 19, 2026