Taxes in Texas

The TPPF take: Speaking at a TPPF event on Friday, the governor said it’s time for property tax relief.

“My plan to cut property taxes will put Texans on a pathway to eliminate their property taxes,” Gov. Abbott said. “Driving down property tax rates will give homeowners the relief they need. Together, we can provide lasting relief to all Texans.”

For more on property tax reform, watch this.

To DEI For

What to know: Lawmakers have banned diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts and offices in Texas public universities.

The TPPF take: DEI’s bedrock belief is that racism is not an individual act of evil; it is a structural system, geared toward preserving white supremacy.

“According to DEI, the system is rigged, and DEI officers say to ‘mitigate racism,’ they must dismantle all those systems and overthrow those values,” says TPPF’s Sherry Sylvester. “That’s why an applicant for a biology professor job at Texas Tech was disqualified when he said he treated all his students equally. Equality is not a DEI value.”

For more on DEI, click here.

Population Bomb

What to know: The U.S. birth rate is down sharply from 15 years ago—but it’s more pronounced in some U.S. states.

The TPPF take: The low birth rate has significant negative implications for national viability.

“The fact – and it is a fact – that faith, a conservative mindset, and a low cost of living found mainly in red states are associated with family formation, confounds many politicians,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “The solution to higher, societally healthier birth rates appears not to involve much government at all.”

For more on birth rates, click here.