Adding Insult to Injury
What to know: Many Kerrville homeowners haven’t fully recovered from the flooding, but already, another manmade disaster looms. Later this month, the Kerrville city council may set in motion an “8 percent tax rate increase…for three years or until the property values are restored to the base as they were before the disaster damage.” This decision threatens to raise the average homeowner’s tax bill by almost $250 next year.
The TPPF take: Disaster stricken homeowners deserve a helping hand, not a huge tax hike.
“Kerrville city hall has a long history of overtaxing its residents, but its latest proposed tax increase is on another level. It’s unconscionable to hammer homeowners with a $250 tax increase when they’re still in recovery mode,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “Instead of maxing out the tax rate, the Kerrville city council should be figuring out how to adopt the no-new-revenue tax rate.”
For more on local taxes, click here.
Artificial Intelligence
What to know: Newsweek is asking the right questions: “What are the moral guardrails on artificial intelligence?”
The TPPF take: AI presents new challenges for lawmakers—and society as a whole.
“I have spent years as a litigation attorney at leading law firms working, publishing, and presenting on the intersection of law and AI, and have seen firsthand how quickly AI is reshaping our world, often for the better,” says Dominic Cruciani, who chairs TPPF’s Houston Liberty Leadership Council. “I’ve also seen the risks: opaque algorithms, unchecked data use, and the real potential for harm befalling everyday Texans in the absence of clear guardrails. By passing HB 149, Texas is leading in the AI race with a focus on core values like transparency, accountability, and human dignity. In short, HB 149 installs a new sheriff on the AI frontier that is both tough and fair.”
For more on AI, click here.
Infighting
What to know: Democrats are at war—with each other. That was evident in their recent DNC summer meeting.
The TPPF take: Democrats have lost the thread.
“The influence of progressives, supercharged during President Barack Obama’s eight years, has made it nearly impossible to nominate someone who can win nationally,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “The Democratic Party base demands fealty to identity politics, open borders and climate extremism. This alienates working-class voters who flipped to Trump in 2016 and stayed Republican thereafter.”
For more on the Democratic Party, click here.