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Let The Government Care For Your Child

by | Nov. 28, 2007 | State

The hubris of the government planners varies between scary and laughable. Social engineers are whining in the press that thousands of “eligible” children are not enrolled in the government health “insurance” plan. Their solution, of course, is to spend a lot...

Another One Bites The Dust

by | Nov. 27, 2007 | State

State Rep. Mike Krusee (R-Round Rock) is set to announce today that he won’t seek re-election to the Texas House after 16 years of legislative service. He has served as the chairman of the House Transportation Committee since 2003. While often praised as a strict...

Tying Taxpayers To The Rail

by | Nov. 26, 2007 | Local

Supporters of “light rail” and “commuter rail” consistently over-sell and under-deliver. Not only does mass-transit fail to reduce congestion, but it is always fraught with cost-overruns and implementation delays. Such is the case in Austin, where the new toy...

Job-Killing New Business Tax Exposed

by | Nov. 25, 2007 | Local, State

The San Antonio Express-News reports that new National Federation of Independent Business radio ads assail the business tax that will take its first toll in May. The ads note some small businesses will see their tax burden rise by 1,000 percent over the current...

And They Wonder Why We Don’t Trust Them

by | Nov. 21, 2007 | State

On the one hand, transportation officials tell us that they just don’t have the funds available to build roads. Yet on the other hand, toll roads dollars are being used to let executives take European vacations complete with first-class and business-class airline...

Will Taxpayers Get Justice?

by | Nov. 19, 2007 | Local

A lawsuit designed to stop counties from using taxpayer-money to lobby against taxpayers is still brewing in Williamson County. The judge last month gave taxpayers a partial victory, but those who brought the suit are hoping to convince His Honor to make...

Taxing Jobs

by | Nov. 19, 2007 | Local

No title makes conservatives’ skin crawl like “tax assessor/collector.” It’s just not a job most of us hope our little conservative bundles of joy grow up to be. But thank goodness someone does, because it’s a critically important position. The Houston...

Your Honor

by | Nov. 16, 2007 | Local

Speaking in Farmers’ Branch this week I saw a familiar face in the audience – one of my upper-classman from Texas A&M. It turns out that Steven Autry is now seeking to serve as the judge of the Dallas County Criminal Court #4. He was a positive influence on me...

Campaign Conservatives, Legislative Liberals

by | Nov. 16, 2007 | State

When we consider the lack of progress on important fiscal reforms, the blame lies almost exclusively with a small group of legislators who campaign as if they are budget conservatives, but legislate like liberals. Look, for example, at the records of Tommy Merritt of...

Help The Good Guys

by | Nov. 15, 2007 | Local

Hard to believe, but true, we do have a strong number of fiscally conservative lawmakers in the Texas Legislature. While outnumbered, they fight the fight for our values and principles regardless of political pressure. But doing the right thing comes at a cost. One of...

Red-Lighting Hypocrisy

by | Nov. 14, 2007 | Local

Confronted with not getting 100% of the money, the city of Nederland (near Beaumont) is backing out of their red-light camera contract. Seems now that they aren’t getting all the cash (see an earlier post), the city fathers just don’t see the “public safety”...

Red-Light Funds

by | Nov. 12, 2007 | State

Proceeds from all those new red-light cameras are flowing into the state coffers – but the money isn’t being spent like people were told it would be. Oh, the shock and surprise. It’s funny how the promise of free cash makes otherwise rational adults weak-kneed,...

Keffer’s Return

by | Nov. 8, 2007 | State

Texas taxpayers are getting an early Christmas present. Bill Keffer is running in House District 107. If his name is familiar, it’s because he was the stand-out conservative in the Texas Legislature fighting against new business taxes, and working on behalf of...

Gross Tax

by | Nov. 8, 2007 | State

If anything demonstrates the folly of placing tax-cut rhetoric over the reality of spending restraint, it’s the creation of the state’s Gross Margins Tax by Republicans last year. This monstrous violation of economic principle (and common sense) is the...

Tax Equity

by | Nov. 6, 2007 | Federal, State

More than two dozen members of the Texas Legislature are calling on Congress to maintain the sales tax deduction for Texans on our federal income taxes. Unless Congress acts, we’ll again lose this important protection. For many years, only people living in...

Examining Agency Advocacy

by | Nov. 6, 2007 | State

State Sen. Dan Patrick and State Rep. Ken Paxton are wanting a formal review of the use of taxpayer money by the Texas Department of Transportation and other agencies on advertising. According to the Houston Chronicle, “the tally for advertising, publications...

Leonard: Bad for Taxpayers

by | Nov. 5, 2007 | Local

Voters in State House District 97 probably don’t need the reminder, but candidate Bob Leonard — the former rep-turned-lobbyist supported by the grow-government crowd — has an abysmal record on taxpayer issues. The Texas Legislature has too many faux...