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Michael Quinn Sullivan

Michael Quinn Sullivan is the publisher of Texas Scorecard. He is a native Texan, a graduate of Texas A&M, and an Eagle Scout. Previously, he has worked as a newspaper reporter, magazine contributor, Capitol Hill staffer, and think tank vice president. Michael and his wife have three adult children, a son-in-law, and a dog. Michael is the author of three books, including "Reflections on Life and Liberty."

State Rep. Tells Court: I Know Nothing

Fred Hill: Knows nothing about taxpayer protectionsIn what is either a rare act of political honesty or an unbelievable admission of dereliction of duty, or both, State Rep. Fred Hill (R-Richardson) swore under oath that he doesn’t know anything about the state’s existing spending limit.

Odd, considering he has served for years on the extremely powerful Legislative Budget Board – the 10 appointed members of which are specifically charged by the Legislature to “Adopt a constitutional spending limit.” In fact, that is the first responsibility listed on the LBB web site!

“I do not have any involvement in the development or calculation of the State spending limit,” swore Mr. Hill on August 7, 2007.  (Taxpayers and voters would be excused if they break into a little swearing of their own at this point.)

School Tax Scam

Here’s a nice little scam floating around school districts: claiming credit for cutting taxes when they haven’t.

The Taxman Cometh

Do you hear that knocking at your door? It’s the taxman, and he wants more money. Pay up. It’s bad enough that appraisal creep and unrestrained spending is taking a bigger and bigger bite out of taxpayers’ take-home pay, but now comes word that local governments want an even bigger bite out of your bank account.

Newspaper: Never, Never, Never Cut Taxes

Newspaper: Never, Never, Never Cut Taxes

Josef Stalin and Vladimir Lenin would be proud of their ideological progeny at the San Antonio Express-News. The long-dead communists, whose utopian Soviet state collapsed in disrepute and bankruptcy after an 80-year experiment in tyranny,  focused on the collective good (as they defined it) outweighing any claim of individual liberty or economic prosperity.

Well, the San Antonio Express-News is opposed a proposed city “roll-back” of property taxes (even though it is less than 1 percent). They say that “individuals benefit from the collective good” (a line no doubt from their Karl Marx quote-of-the-day calendar), and the collective good is defined as growing government to consume every resource possible.

Bad Tax Ideas Never Go Away

Whack A MoleFighting tax-and-spendoholics is like playing Wack-A-Mole at the arcade. You knock them down, only to find they pop right back up. The lesson? We have to move faster and hit harder.

Last legislative session, taxpayers were successful in stopping tax-and-spendoholics from increasing the taxes to fund further boondoggle spending on more light-rail and other mass transit pork (the only thing “mass” is the cost – mass transit fails to actually relieve congestion, dollar for dollar). But, hey, those trains are fun at Disney World…

Road Taxes Should Fund Roads? What A Crazy Idea…

Sen. John CaronaState Sen. John Carona says in today’s Dallas Morning News that Texas must “stop the diversion of gas tax funds for other uses.” That’s welcome news. While the state’s constitution currently requires transportation funds to be used for transportation expenses, “transportation” is a constantly-expending term.

According to the Morning News, almost a third of Texas’ gasoline tax revenues for transportation have been “diverted” away from true transportation projects.

Got Tax Relief? Not In Houston…

So you think you’re getting tax relief? If you live in Houston, chances are you are not. The school district there are doing everything they can to reach into your family’s pocket-book and exact every last dollar they can.

Grow Government Today, Pay For It Later

NCSLBad ideas are running rampant in Beantown. I've come to Boston for the National Conference of State Legislators. It should be called the National Conference for Growing Government. By and large, NCSL is a cheerleading session for those legislators, bureaucrats, rent-seekers and assorted hangers-on looking to grow the size and scope of government.

The first panel discussion I attended was illustrative: it was called "Financing State Government in a No New Taxes World."