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“Happy Meal” Economics

The Williamson County Commissioners Court is being urged to adopt the effective tax rate raise taxes in order to push through a pay raise for county employees. After looking at the proposed tax hike, one advocate said, "There it is, in black and white. 3.43 a month....

Never Let A Budget Crisis Go To Waste

President Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, once said, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." Some Texas Democrats appear to be taking a page from his playbook, and...

If It Quacks Like a Duck

It seems the folks over at the new Williamson County Employee's Association are very worried that we might think the WCEA is a union, and are adamantly protesting the reference on their blogsite. The WCEA claim is that since they can neither strike nor engage in...

Can Conservative Complacency Bring Liberal’s Victory?

Conservatives are energized about the prospects of numerous electoral wins throughout the state in November. But don't think for a moment that the other side has accepted this as inevitable. Even Williamson County, a conservative bastion in Central Texas that...

Taxpayer Beware! Local government budget season has arrived

Brace yourselves, folks.  Just yesterday, the Statesman's Laylin Copelin reported that Travis County property appraisals had fallen 3.5% this year.  Which means every taxing entity in the county that collects property taxes will lose revenue.  Today,...

Royger’s Fork

One of the most reviled characters in English history was John Morton, Lord Chancellor and chief tax collector to the Tudor king Henry VII. Morton was known for an infamous logical fallacy: if a subject lived extravagantly, he must have plenty of money to pay hefty...

Monument To Big Government… Literally

Conservatives like to joke about pork-barrel projects being a "monument to big government" or a "monument to waste." Well, let this be a warning about how you joke in the future: the North Texas Toll Authority has now created a monument to big-government porkers. All...

Bleed Orange, Drink Water, Waste Money

As Will Lutz, Managing Editor of The Lone Star Report said, “Bill Powers selling water to provide affordable education is like an arsonist joining the volunteer fire department to put out a fire he started.” Sadly, this has been the story of the entire bureaucratic...