Houston is ground zero for the state revolt over property taxes, and it seems most elected officials have finally gotten the message. KTRK-TV reports that after Harris County District Clerk Charles Bacarisse courageously called for a 5 cent county property tax cut...
Collin County Judge Keith Self must feel like the only sane man in an asylum. As the chief administrator in fast-growing Collin County north of Dallas, he is trying to stop a $328.9 million bond package being sold as a plan to reduce traffic congestion. What’s his...
Seventeen members of the Texas House have sent a letter to Texas’ delegation to the U.S. Congress, urging them to sustain the President’s veto of the massive expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Don’t expect the letter to make...
Newspapers around the state are breathlessly reporting that the Marxist-leaning Center for Public Policy Priorities thinks a massive national expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program is good for Texas. Of course, these are the same people who think...
The Texas Department of Transportation has been saying they’re broke, and cannot afford to build new roads. On the other hand, they have engaged in a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign to convince taxpayers to embrace new transportation policies. Now we find...
An October 1 analysis from the Harris County Tax Office confirms the vaunted school property tax cut will be short-lived. Paul Betttencourt’s number-crunching shows that by 2009, the HISD school property taxes on the average residence will be only 2.02% less...
Texas’ budget surplus has grown even more. State employees will get a pay raise, taxpayers? Still nothing. The Office of the Comptroller announced yesterday that the state is bringing in $1.5 billion in additional revenues – over and above the previously announced...
What was Kay Bailey Hutchison thinking? As the only Texas Republican to support a massive expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Hutchison’s vote is contrary to the wisdom of Texas’ fiscal conservatives on a program of questionable...
Never has a newspaper gotten the story so right. The section heading said it all, “Taxing As A First Option.†That’s precisely the attitude of so many in government, and in this case the government apologists are admitting it. A Dallas Morning News article about...
Texas school districts are showing kids that it is okay to lie and cheat so that you may get your way. This valuable life lesson comes courtesy of school districts efforts to convince voters to raise their taxes, as reported in today’s Dallas Morning News. At least...
Congress is currently considering whether to extend and make permanent the temporary moratorium on Internet taxes, which will expire in November. The pick-pocketers at Dallas City Hall want nothing of it. The City's 30-page liberalism-laced "Legislative...
It’s only the latest in a string of bribery and corruption cases related to construction bidding, but this week’s indictment of State Rep. Terri Hodge (D-Dallas) and others should be a clarion call to reform the way governments hand out contracts. The case...
Public education in Texas is a mess. That’s the nutshell version of a straightforward piece in the Dallas Morning News, in which the president of the Texas Association of Business presents sobering statistics to demonstrate that “state government has only...
Despite heavy protests, an outraged public and a giant pig, the people of Michigan are facing much higher taxes, brought to them courtesy of their Democratic Governor. The conservatives stuck together, forcing the governor and her Democratic legislators (and some...
The Galveston Daily News reports the new business tax is squeezing small business, the engine of the economy and job creation. Dickinson’s Mark Fehrle, who owns a 14-person elevator company, was “floored”” to find out he would have to pay...
Remember the Texas Department of Transportation plan to use $9 million of your money to convince you to quit worrying and love the TransTexas Corridor? Well, it’s still going on, but now one of the Texas Taxpayer Heroes is stepping up to ask the Legislature to...
Channel 13News investigative reporter Wayne Dolcefino has a revealing piece today about how Houston METRO is wasting over $183,000 on commercials running before movies in theaters that tell viewers how wonderful they are and how they can better use their time by...
Taxpayers had a good day in court this week, but it doesn’t make up for the untold millions of dollars government entities have used in our money to lobby against the interests of the people paying for big government. Some time ago my friend Peggy Venable at...
Not only is he one of the best members of the Texas Legislature on fiscal issues, but State Rep. Jim Jackson (R-Carrollton) is a gentleman in the finest sense of the word. I had the honor of presenting him the “Texas Taxpayer Hero” Award at an event in...
Remember how the sporting goods tax has been diverted from state parks and the soon-to-be-abolished telephone infrastructure tax was funneled into general revenues after its purpose of connecting rural schools andl libraries had long been achieved. The San Antonio...
