Bye Bye Bye
What to know: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas can eliminate school property taxes for homeowners by consistently applying state surplus to the problem. The state’s surplus totaled $33 billion in 2023 and $24 billion in 2025.
The TPPF take: Gov. Abbott is right—the Legislature has ample resources to solve this problem without disrupting core services.
“The governor’s call to eliminate property taxes promises to radically improve the affordability environment for many Texans. And it proposes to do so using money that has been over-collected from taxpayers,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “Charting a clear course to permanent property tax elimination ought to be the number one goal next session.”
For more on property taxes, click here.
Building the American Dream
What to know: Austin’s red-hot housing market is starting to cool, and that’s good news for homebuyers.
The TPPF take: Housing supply is a big component of home prices, and Austin has taken steps to increase supply.
“After years of watching home prices skyrocket out of reach for first responders, nurses, and young families, in December 2023, Austin city council voted to rewrite its zoning code,” says Tobias Peter of the American Enterprise Institute, writing in The Cannon Online. “The first phase of its HOME Initiative—known as HOME-1—effectively allowed up to three homes on most lots that previously could host only one. A year later, the results are in—and they’re stunning. Austin is finally starting to build its way to affordability.”
For more on home prices, click here.
It’s Elementary
What to know: In 2020, the University of California stopped requiring standardizes tests, such as the SAT, for admissions. Now, many of its college students can’t do elementary math.
The TPPF take: Equity, as opposed to equality, and the myth of college for everyone have degraded higher education.
“Public confidence in colleges has crashed to 36%, down from 57% in 2015,” says TPPF’s Tom Lindsay. “The college-for-all dream, though well-intentioned, has inflated costs, buried millions in debt, and watered down education. Built on sand, its reputation is collapsing before us.”
For more on higher education, click here.