In recent years, tax and expenditure limits – legal limits on how fast government spending and taxes can grow each year based on some measure of economic activity – have received increasing attention at the state level as a result of the success of Colorado’s Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights. Not all tax and expenditure limitation measures are created equal: Texas’ is one of the least effective in the nation.
Taxes & Spending
Assessing Tax Trends in the City of Ft. Worth
Does history suggest that property taxes are too high in the city of Ft. Worth? 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...
February 19, 2026