The El Campo Leader News reports that the Commissioners Court this week rejected the effort of a proposed wind farm to get Chapter 312 tax abatements from the residents of Wharton County: The Wharton County Commissioners Court unanimously decided not to move forward with a 312 tax abatement application from Wharton Wind, LLC during its...
The start of 2019 has our families and yours determining budget priorities. If you look at your budget, you get a good understanding of what you prioritize most. This also happens with the state’s budget. Let’s review the legislative priorities set by the Texas House and Texas Senate in their recently proposed recommended budgets and...
“The Texas occupational licensure regime, predominantly impeding Texans of modest means, can seem a hodge-podge of disjointed, logic-defying irrationalities, where the burdens imposed seem almost farcical, forcing many lower-income Texans to face a choice: submit to illogical bureaucracy or operate an illegal business?” Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett in Patel v. Texas Department of Licensing and Registration. The Commission to...
Traffic enforcement is a hoax. There, I said it. Well, maybe it is not a hoax—we do actually do it after all—but it is not what it appears to be. It is a tax, more or less, without the political stigma such a term brings with it. It is time to change that. While Right on Crime does not often...
Which state most strongly supports freedom and prosperity? Texas, of course. That’s why people are flocking to the Lone Star State – which has gained better than 1,000 new residents per day, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. We gladly welcome these refugees from high-tax states like New York and Illinois, but we need to...
Lobbyists are in Austin now to protect massive tax breaks that local governments give to businesses. According to the Austin American-Statesman, “One of the major programs — allowing local governments to enter into so-called Chapter 312 agreements to abate property taxes — must be reauthorized by lawmakers in 2019 if it is to continue,” . “A...
The Los Angeles teachers’ strike is in its third day, with no end in sight and only about a quarter of the L.A. Unified School District’s 600,000 students attending classes, which are being taught by substitute teachers. The strike by the 31,000 members of United Teachers Los Angeles, the union that represents not only teachers,...
Although most states already have a renewable mandate in place, many cities have taken their own initiative on climate policy since the White House announced its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. With the passage of the 100 percent renewable energy by 2032” mandate, better known as “100 by 32,” residents of the nation’s capital joined...
Protecting free speech on campus will be on the docket again in many states as lawmakers begin their sessions in the coming weeks. Texas will be one, if TPPF’s Policy Orientation is any indication (Stanley Kurtz, who co-authored the Goldwater Institute’s 2017 report along with me and Jim Manley of the Pacific Legal Foundation, was...
A new wind farm is getting millions of dollars in tax breaks. As the Houston Business Journal reports: The 300 megawatt Sage Draw Wind farm — which is selling electricity to Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp. under a power purchase agreement with the farm’s owner, Denmark-based Ørsted — is set to draw $22.56 million in...
Happy New Year! That’s what most of us texted our loved ones as we celebrated 2019. I did it from my iPhone. But did you ever consider what’s inside your phone? Where it was produced? CNBC recently posted a video of the supply chain for an iPhone. I was amazed to learn that the phone...
The Texas Public Policy Foundation writes to support Representative James White’s November 27, 2018 request (RQ-0258-KP) seeking your office’s opinion on the elements, factors, or standards courts have considered and applied when balancing the rights of the state against the fundamental right of parents to raise their children free from government intrusion. In light of...