The Dirty Dozen-and-a-Half
What to know: This November, around 18 school districts are holding tax increase elections, aka voter-approval tax rate elections (VATREs), hoping that Texans will accept paying higher taxes. While the level of tax hikes vary from district-to-district, at least one district, Austin ISD, wants to raise taxes on the average homeowner by $500 per year.
The TPPF take: It’s absurd that government schools are pitching huge tax hikes in today’s uncertain economy.
“Bidenomics has made everyone poorer and yet, school districts all over the state are pushing for major tax increases. Instead of hoovering up more money from struggling taxpayers, these districts should be finding ways to stretch their dollars and cut spending,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “Next session, policymakers would be wise to institute VATRE reforms to ensure voters understand what they’re being asked to approve and what it may cost.”
For more on local taxes and spending, click here.
Back On Mission
What to know: The University of Texas System Board of Regents has barred its system and its institutions, including the University of Texas, from taking political positions or making statements on matters not immediately pertinent to their campuses or operations.
The TPPF take: This is good news for students, instructors, and the First Amendment.
“As someone who previously was both a college professor and administrator, I can testify to the chilling effect it has on the campus community—students and faculty alike—when university officials weigh in on controversial political and social issues that have no direct bearing on the school’s well-being,” says TPPF’s Tom Lindsay. “What happens is this: Once the ‘official orthodoxy’ has been announced by some university official from on high, it serves either to entice or to intimidate students and professors.”
For more on the UT System and free speech, click here.
Unchecked
What to know: Congressman Tony Gonzalez, a Republican from South Texas, says criminal immigrants are allowed to run free in his district by the federal government.
The TPPF take: The U.S. government isn’t vetting migrants for criminal backgrounds, no matter what it says.
“Last year, a fairly well known, former Afghanistan military general and former advisor to the president of Afghanistan was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol while entering the U.S. illegally,” says TPPF’s Rodney Scott. “One would expect that the records checks would reveal something about this Afghanistan general and alert agents and officers about who they have in front of them, right? Wrong. The records checks that Secretary Mayorkas refers to as ‘vetting’ came up empty. Nothing, zero, zilch.”
For more on vetting migrants, click here.