Their Loss
What to know: Texas continues to benefit from the financial policies of blue states, as their people and businesses continue to relocate here.
The TPPF take: High-tax states are causing their own problems.
“Places like California and New York, they overspend and they grow government in different areas, which means they have to fund it in some way in order to balance their budgets,” TPPF’s Vance Ginn said in a recent interview. “So that means they ratchet up their sales taxes, and they ratchet up their income taxes.”
For more on tax policies and population shifts, click here.
We Deserve It
What to know: The Texas Legislature is busy advancing some bills that would improve health care in the state—including a bill on hospital price transparency.
The TPPF take: Texas can take steps to enforce a federal price transparency rule.
“In the future, Texans should be able to walk into their primary care doctor and ask for a menu of prices for each routine test and blood panel needed,” says TPPF’s David Balat. “Price gouging would significantly decline once providers are forced to show the wide discrepancies in prices to patients.”
For more on hospital price transparency, click here.
Unemployment
What to know: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he’ll end the $300-per-week COVID-19 bonus for the unemployed. That’s a start, but it will take more than that to get Texans working and prospering again.
The TPPF take: We need an innovative approach to training the Texas workforce.
“The great news is that Texas has the opportunity this legislative session to allow employers to innovate with their own robust workforce training models,” says TPPF’s Erin Davis Valdez. “It is an important step toward improving the economic opportunities for all Texans, addressing the need for the state to have a skilled workforce, and providing an attractive policy environment for current and future employers.”
For more on workforce development, click here.