Taxes & Spending

SPEAKING FREELY- ICYMI: Public Schools Dole Out $6 Million in Severance Pay to Superintendents

A new article lays bare the increasing irrationality of ISD administrator compensation. According to the Texas Monitor, over the last 15 months, ISDs around the state have approved severance packages to 24 superintendents worth an estimated $6 million or an average of $250,000 per official. Troublingly, many of these arrangements appear to have been much...

April 10, 2018

Economy

City Government Policies Cause Lack of Affordability

Austin is in the throes of an “affordability crisis” that is being driven in large part by poor public policies, according to a recent op-ed in the Austin American-Statesman. In 2016, nearly 58,000 moved to the Austin area, marking a significant increase in population. But, as the author notes, city policies made it hard for...

April 4, 2018

Economy

Government is the Problem When it comes to high Austin Home Prices

The reality of high home prices in Austin was the topic of discussion in a recent Community Impact article. But while much of the piece seems to suggest that more government intervention is the solution, most of us recognize that city government is the problem. To its credit, the article touches on the ill effects...

April 4, 2018

Economy

SPEAKING FREELY- ICYMI: Montrose MMD Dissolves, Possibly Marking a First

Late last month, Houston-area taxpayers scored a big win. In what is being hailed as “perhaps the first time in state history that a Texas government entity has been forced to shutter by its own citizens”, the Montrose Management District voted to dissolve itself, according to the Texas Monitor. This was a hard fought win for...

April 4, 2018

Taxes & Spending

Texas schools aren’t stretching their dollars in classrooms

  Austin’s education lobby is pushing the narrative that public schools are underfunded and the state is to blame. Though imaginative, this account falls short in several ways. To begin, public schools have sufficient funding. In the 2015-16 school year alone, Texas school districts spent a total of $64.8 billion on 5.3 million schoolchildren. That...

March 30, 2018

Taxes & Spending

Federal tax reform is making people’s lives better

  Even though the historic tax reform took effect only recently, almost 450 businesses nationwide have announced “pay raises, bonuses, utility rate cuts, or 401(k) hikes,” according to a detailed list maintained by Americans for Tax Reform. The pay and benefit increases have helped pad the pocketbooks of an estimated 4.2 million working Americans —...

March 28, 2018

Taxes & Spending

SPEAKING FREELY: ISD Official Jailed for Stealing, Taxpayers Will Still Have to Pay for Public Pension

A new report from the Texas Monitor is raising some serious questions about taxpayers and public pensions. In 2016, Carolyn Foster, Grand Prairie ISD’s former chief financial officer, was arrested and later convicted of stealing $600,000 from the district. That money was originally slotted to go toward “awards to teachers and other needs”, but instead...

March 19, 2018

Economy

ICYMI: Mathew Debates the Potential Austin Paid Sick Leave Mandate

On Tuesday, Think Local Liberty’s Bryan Mathew appeared on FOX 7 to point out some of the many flaws with Austin’s paid sick leave ordinance, which is expected to be voted on tomorrow. “When we have a regulatory environment where many firms are able to enter and compete, you’ll see that they start to compete...

February 20, 2018

Taxes & Spending

Let’s use better tools to decide which inmates get bail

  Criminal justice reform is a prominent issue in the public square, capturing the interest of both ends of the ideological spectrum, as well as celebrities, think tanks and even the White House. Propelling this issue forward, both nationally and in the Lone Star State, is a recognition that change is needed. Especially when it...

February 18, 2018

Taxes & Spending

Frustrated by soaring tax bills? The governor has your back

  Speaking at a news conference last month, Gov. Greg Abbott lambasted Texas’ broken property tax system, expressing the kind of frustration and fatigue that have become familiar to us all. “Texans are fed up with property taxes being raised with impunity. They are tired of endless government spending while honest, hard-working people struggle just...

February 5, 2018

Economy

Why Supreme Court should rule against bag ban

  Shoppers might soon discover that the grocery store is less expensive and more convenient. Two weeks ago, the Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case questioning the legitimacy of municipal bans on plastic bags. If justices reaffirm an appellate court ruling, consumers will be unburdened from this clear example of government overreach....

January 22, 2018

Taxes & Spending

Speaking Freely: Texas’ Pension Debt Tops $66 Billion

After a short period of decline, public pension debt is once again piling up in the Lone Star State. According to a November 2017 report from the Pension Review Board, unfunded liabilities, or the gap between promised benefits and the funds on hand to make good on those promises, among state and local pension plans...

January 4, 2018