We’re nearing the end of the voting season for this year, and now more than ever it’s important to demand clarity in what we’re voting for when it comes to Voter-Approval Tax Rate Elections—VATREs. VATREs are what local governments—like school districts, special purpose districts, and cities—use to ask the public for huge tax hikes. Today,...
Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally wasn’t simply a campaign stop in an unwinnable state. It was a bid to unify and rally a national coalition. Donald Trump’s rally in New York City’s iconic Madison Square Garden was much more than a campaign event in symbolically hostile territory; it was part of a broader strategy aimed...
We are a few short months away from the start of a legislative session that will be punctuated with countless debates and hearings on AI legislation. Many of these discussions are dominated by the shiny objects—the deepfakes, autonomous vehicles, robotics, etc. To be clear, these are crucially important topics that demand the utmost scrutiny from...
In 2023, the Texas Legislature passed historic property tax relief that was intended to cut the average homeowner’s tax bill by roughly $1,300 per year. Unfortunately, tax-and-spend local governments have eroded much of those anticipated savings through rate hikes, bond elections, and a special type of tax increase election known as a Voter-Approval Tax Rate...
Everything is bigger in Texas—including government debt. According to the Bond Review Board’s latest local government annual report, Texas’ state-local debt totaled nearly $325 billion (principal only) in 2021, which was the 4th highest among the top ten most populous states. On a per capita basis, Texas governments have borrowed so much that every man,...
Former President Donald Trump went viral this week for making a campaign pitstop in Pennsylvania to work the fry station and drive-through at a McDonald’s. But Trump’s visit at McDonald’s was more than a publicity stunt—it represents the core of what makes him appealing to voters and, ultimately, what will carry him across the finish line in...
Uri Berliner’s exposure of National Public Radio, James Bennet’s truth-telling about The New York Times, and the recent outrage at CBS News over the editing of a Kamala Harris interview are just the latest signs of something we’ve all been seeing for over a decade. Online newspapers and other electronic outlets that used to speak with authority are broken....
Every Friday morning at 8:30 a.m., I join the Cardle & Woolley show, Talk 1370 Radio, in Austin to pick the week’s top Winners & Losers. We are now sliding down the final 10 day countdown to Election Day as we try to discern what the long lines of people standing outside polling locations—at least...
Ronald Reagan famously said that government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” The last part is funny because it exposes the backward thinking of government. If a product or service...
It is not a stretch to look at the present state of the campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Colin Allred and conclude that they have been stalled by their opponent’s attacks on their support for the transgender agenda. You could see the exasperation on Harris’ face last week when...
Recently, The University of Texas System’s Board of Regents enhanced its free speech policy for all its member schools. No longer will Texas public universities be able to offer official political statements on matters that only tangentially affect their campuses. The new policy announces that it is not “the role of the UT System or...
Every Friday morning at 8:30 a.m., I join the Cardle & Woolley show, Talk 1370 Radio, in Austin to pick the week’s top Winners & Losers. It is now 17 days until the Nov. 5 election, but Texans can begin going to the polls Monday morning and since voter registration is off the charts—up almost...