In the private sector, a business that consistently serves fewer customers faces numerous unpleasant consequences. Layoffs. Furloughs. Pay reductions. Rightsizing. In the public sector, things don’t seem to work that way in Texas local government. Take Austin ISD, for example. For years, Central Texas’ largest public school district has witnessed a steady decline in its...
It’s the first week to pre-file legislation in the run-up to the 88th Legislature and already swarms of bills have been proposed to make big changes to Texas’ onerous property tax system, which continues to wallop renters, homeowners, and practically everyone else. Here’s a look at just a few. House Bill 29: Proposes to prohibit...
A highly controversial article in The Atlantic has issued a call for a “pandemic amnesty,” in which the public is presumably supposed to forget about the lives destroyed, the fortunes lost, and the freedoms smashed due to the excesses of emergency governance. The article’s concluding point sums up the surprising ask: “The standard saying is...
Not all heroes wear capes—some simply skip a meeting or two. That’s how two Harris County commissioners blocked an onrushing property tax hike that would have cost taxpayers there an additional $245.2 million. By breaking quorum, Commissioners Tom Ramsey and Jack Cagle denied the Harris County Commissioners Court the supermajority it needed for a tax...
In 2019, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 477 into law in an attempt to improve debt transparency (something sorely needed given our fiscal condition). One of the new law’s chief features is the creation of a Voter Information Document (VID), an educational tool that taxpayers can use to learn about newly-proposed debt measures. In...
For whatever reason, Texas public schools seem to be engaged in an awful lot of election-related shenanigans recently. For instance, a few years ago Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued “cease and desist letters to Brazosport, Holliday and Lewisville Independent School Districts regarding violations of the Texas Education Code for unlawful electioneering.” Later that same...
Here they come again. On Election Day, more than 150 local governmental entities will ask Texas voters for permission to go $21 billion deeper into debt. The borrowing binge comes just as voters approved $24 billion at the ballot box in May. Using the Texas Bond Review Board’s Bond Elections Database, one thing about all...
Amarillo voters thought they had made themselves very clear: They weren’t interested in funding a new convention center. Two years ago, they shot down a $275 million bond proposal. No thanks, they said. To get around the voters, Amarillo city hall came up with a complex financing scheme that hinged on the issuance of $260...
It’s early October, which means that property tax rate-setting season is officially over. With the rate-setting process concluded, homeowners and businesses can finally get a sense of whether their property taxes are going up, headed down, or staying the same. In the past, Texans would have to navigate a complex web of public notices, agendas,...
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signaled that major property tax changes may be on the horizon. During last week’s televised debate, the governor outlined where he’d like to see Texas tax policy go, saying: “My goal is to eliminate the school property taxes imposed in the state of Texas so that people can genuinely own their...
We all expect voters to have the final say in election questions. A solemn acceptance of the votes cast, win or lose, has been the bedrock of American politics since the inception of the nation—to ignore it would be to deny the very essence of democratic governance and embrace a type of tyranny that elevates...
Ronald Reagan once observed that, “Whenever we lower the tax rates, our entire nation is better off.” The Texas version of that statement equates to: Whenever we lower property tax rates to the no-new-revenue level or lower, our entire state is better off. For those not familiar with the term, the no-new-revenue tax rate is...