Last month, TPPF’s James Quintero testified before the House Ways & Means Committee in support of House Bill 1391, a bill to require a taxing unit to reduce its tax rate to the lesser of the no-new-revenue tax rate or the voter-approval tax rate in cases where an entity fails to win majority support at...
Bearing Witness: Senate Bill 1879 This month, TPPF’s James Quintero testified before the Senate Committee on Local Government in support of Senate Bill 1879, a bill to broaden the scope of what governmental entities must disclose as it relates to money being spent on directly or indirectly influencing the outcome of legislation. The bill has...
A new property tax report is raising eyebrows—especially among Texans struggling to put food on the table. The newly-released report, published every other year by the Texas Comptroller’s Office, confirms what most already suspect: Property taxes are big and growing fast. In 2019, more than 4,200 local governments hit homeowners and businesses with property tax...
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is taking its message on local government lobbying to every corner in the Lone Star State. Earlier this week, the Foundation launched an aggressive statewide radio campaign educating Texans on the insidious practice of spending taxpayer money to lobby for more taxpayer money. The campaign comes on the heels of...
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has just published a new report detailing the extent of property tax growth over the last few years. The data is revealing. According to the 2018-19 Biennial Property Tax Report, almost 4,300 local taxing units levied $67.3 billion in property taxes on homeowners and businesses in 2019. That’s a...
School district property taxes are massive. In 2019, Texas’ local governments walloped homeowners and businesses with property taxes totaling $67.3 billion, according to a new Texas Comptroller report. Of the total tax levy, school districts, by far, imposed the greatest burden at $36.2 billion or 54% of the whole. By comparison, property taxes levied by...
Think that a pronounced economic crisis has ushered in more cost-efficient local government? Think again! New data from the Bond Review Board shows that in 2020, total local debt rose to $375.7 billion, an increase of more than $10 billion over the previous fiscal year. Source: obtained from Public Information Act request and Bond Review...
More and more people agree—local governments should not spend public money to hire registered lobbyists to push for higher taxes, more spending, and bigger government at the statehouse. The latest organization to join the club seeking to ban lobbying funded by tax money is Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), a nonprofit advocacy group founded at...
What does virtually every Austinite carry around in their pocket 24/7? A cell phone! In spite of this, a recent audit found that the city of Austin is spending tons of money on employee pagers. And in many cases, those devices are going unused and those employees are nonexistent. According to the Office of the...