Trick-or-Treat?
What to Know: Most local governments started a brand-new budget year this month. For property owners, this means that you can now view your specific home or business’ property tax bill. This link from the state can help you find it.
The TPPF Take: Using the state’s new property tax transparency tool, Texans are able to see whether their local elected officials raised taxes, reduced the burden, or kept things the same.
“Even though it might be scary, every Texan ought to use this new tool to understand how their tax bill grew or shrank this year. And then engage your local elected officials accordingly,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “From transparency comes accountability. And with accountability comes good government.”
For more on property taxes, click here.
Just Like Texas
What to Know: Writing in Fox News, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal say Republicans nationwide should adopt many of the health care reforms Texas achieved last session—and go even further.
The TPPF Take: Last session, Texas improved health care, without expanding Medicaid.
“Rather than expanding a poorly performing program, the Legislature focused in a bipartisan manner by improving Medicaid, by making prescriptions more affordable for the uninsured, by driving down the cost of services, and providing new options for the uninsured rather than the one-size-fits-all Medicaid,” says TPPF’s David Balat. “These, along with making direct primary care more widely available, are worthy national goals.”
For more on health care reform, click here.
The Wall is Back
What to Know: A new poll shows most Americans want a more secure border—and a border wall. According to the poll, it’s 57% to 33% in support of a wall.
The TPPF Take: Recently, TPPF’s Britt Allen went to the border.
“The Cochise County sheriff’s department drove us up to the border wall,” Britt explains. “The subject of so much division in our country was staring right down at me, but so was someone else. A cartel lookout station, manned 24/7 for the last 10 years, was eyeing every move we made as a group, no doubt phoning in our activity to coyotes on either side of the wall. Just behind me, laying abandoned in the scrubland, were miles and miles of unused panels for the border wall—paid for by our taxes, but rotting away.”
To read more of Britt’s story, click here.