Pumping the Brakes
What to know: One state lawmaker recently filed legislation to “reform the way tax anticipation notes and certificates of obligation…work and how they may be issued.” The changes would prevent taxpayer abuse and make common-sense changes to ways in which nonvoter-approved debt may be used.
The TPPF take: It’s time to pump the brakes on nonvoter-approved debt.
“The irreverent P.J. O’Rourke once joked that giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. His satirical barb perfectly captures the dynamic today between nonvoter-approved debt instruments and insatiable local officials,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “Taxed-out Texans desperately need the Legislature to rein in the abuse of certificates of obligation and tax anticipation notes, and require local governments to live within their means.”
For more on local debt, click here.
Hidden Fees
What to know: The U.S. Supreme Court will consider the constitutionality of the “universal service fund,” a tax imposed by the FCC, supposedly to expand telephone services.
The TPPF take: The FCC is going beyond its constitutional limits with the USF.
“Anyone who has watched Schoolhouse Rock knows that Congress, not unelected bureaucrats, are supposed to write our laws,” says TPPF’s Chance Weldon. “We’re excited that the Supreme Court is taking up this case to restore that constitutional order.”
For more on the USF, click here.
School Choice
What to know: School choice is at the top of the governor’s agenda for the upcoming legislative session.
The TPPF take: Now is the time to empower Texas families with a universal school choice program.
“In Texas, our public schools are still assigned based on a child’s address, which are still highly segregated along socio-economic and racial lines,” writes TPPF’s Mandy Drogin. “School choice removes those artificial boundaries and allows parents to make the decision about what is best for their child. School choice breaks down institutional barriers, like zoning, and lifts up the students stuck in bad schools.”
For more on school choice, watch this.