Cities, counties, school districts, and special districts in Texas are awash in debt. To help rein in the growth of local government debt, state legislators should require political subdivisions to provide voters with more information at the ballot box for each new debt proposition.
Taxes & Spending
Assessing Tax Trends in the City of Dallas
Does history suggest that property taxes are too high in the city of Dallas? And, if so, have local decision-makers actively helped or hurt the situation? To help answer these questions, let’s review the city’s 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) and gather four types of data—i.e., tax levies, local population, total tax rates, and taxable values—over a 10-year time horizon. Using these audited estimates, we can gauge the growth of government (i.e., tax levy trends), assess its reasonability...
February 18, 2026