Low state tax rates appear to be driving faster job growth since President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 into law in December of that year. The law limited state and local tax (SALT) deductions for individual income tax filers who itemized to $10,000 per household, having the economic effect of...
If a man is from Texas, he’ll tell you, Chicago Journalist John Gunther once wrote. If he’s not, why embarrass him by asking? It’s true that Texans are plain-spoken. And for years, Texas taxpayers have told their lawmakers that property taxes are just too high, and getting higher at an unsustainable pace. And we have...
The Trump administration’s new asylum rule will limit the ability of Central Americans to claim asylum at the southwest border. If implemented, it might ease overcrowding at border detention facilities in the near term. But the rule, announced Monday, is at best a stopgap measure, not a permanent solution. The border crisis will never end until we overhaul...
Eric Helland and Alex Tabarrok’s new book, Why Are the Prices So D*mn High?, has reignited a debate about why the costs of higher education to students and taxpayers have grown so quickly. Their answer traces back to an idea put forth a half-century ago by economists William Baumol and William G. Bowen. Traditionally referred to as Baumol’s...
Many cities have jumped on the bandwagon of renewable energy initiatives in recent years. In Central Texas alone, Austin, Georgetown, and now San Antonio – who all maintain a municipally-owned electricity provider from which their residents are forced to purchase electricity– have pursued “green” initiatives in a highly touted trend toward the increased use of...
America’s criminal justice system at its breaking point. For decades, we’ve been addicted to more: more people convicted of drug offenses in prison; more prosecutors putting people in prison; and more money spent on prosecutors putting people in prison. These policies have not made us safer, haven’t addressed the root causes of crime and haven’t...
In almost any other political environment, the United States would be the hero of this story — we are a world leader in reducing pollution (even as the economy roars ahead and people prosper) and our environment is cleaner than ever. At the same time, the draconian actions of the world’s self-proclaimed climate leaders (similar...
Think of the U.S. Census Bureau as the nosiest of neighbors. When the 2020 forms arrive in mailboxes across the country, the questions will include the usual — the names and ages of all those living at a particular residence. But the questions don’t stop there. The census will also ask about sex, race, ancestry,...
At a speech in the East Room on Monday, President Trump correctly reminded America that “a strong economy is vital to maintaining a healthy environment.” The United States of America is now the world’s largest producer of energy, surpassing even Saudi Arabia and Russia, producing a staggering 12.16 million barrels of oil every 24 hours. Our...
One of the largest subsidies for renewable energy generation, the federal production tax credit, is slated to end this year. While some in the industry support the end of these tax credits, members of the U.S. House of Representatives are drafting legislation that would extend and expand subsidies that benefit renewable energy generators. The production tax credit...
Employers added 224,000 jobs in June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than most economists expected. The nation’s unemployment rate was 3.7%, remaining at historic lows. The manufacturing sector saw 17,000 jobs added after four months of flat activity. This followed a strong run of an average of 22,000 manufacturing jobs added every...
The government-appraised value of my home was due to go up 10.7% this year, which, if the tax rates for the school district, county and other taxing public entities held steady, would mean a tax hike of hundreds of dollars. In the eight years I’ve lived in Texas since moving from California, this was the...