Testimony: Budget Transparency Now

April 13, 2016

Vance Ginn, Ph.D.

Vance Ginn, Ph.D., is an accomplished economist finding free-market solutions that let people prosper. He is founder and president of Ginn Economic Consulting where he provides high-quality research and trusted insights on how to affect change at the federal, state, and local levels. Ginn’s experience includes time in public policy, government, and academia. He is chief economist at Pelican Institute for Public Policy and a senior fellow at several think tanks, including at Americans for Tax Reform, Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), and Young Americans for Liberty.

It is reasonable to expect the Legislature to provide transparency and accountability of taxpayer dollars so Texans understand the benefits achieved with their money.

View Full Publication

What the Private Sector can Teach the Public Sector about Efficiency

Recently, former President Trump floated the idea of creating “a government efficiency commission a federal commission to audit the entire federal government.” And even better, he suggested putting Elon Musk in charge of the commission, saying he is a great “cost-cutter.” Unleashing a commission of this nature on the federal government, led by a titan...

October 17, 2024

Taxes & Spending

Invited Testimony to the House Committee on Ways & Means: Property Tax-Related Interim Charges

Chairman Meyer and Members of the Committee, My name is James Quintero, and I am a policy director with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a nonpartisan research institute based in Austin, Texas. Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee today on last session’s historic property tax relief package and the current environment. My...

October 2, 2024

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

Vance Ginn, Ph.D.

Related content

What the Private Sector can Teach the Public Sector about Efficiency

Invited Testimony to the House Committee on Ways & Means: Property Tax-Related Interim Charges

Assessing Tax Trends in the City of Dallas