NEWS
Who in the Fred Hill is being represented?
For Texas taxpayers, the record of State Rep. Fred Hill (R-Richardson) adds up to higher taxes. The Dallas Morning News is reporting in today’s edition that residents in Mr. Hill’s home county of Dallas had a “sharp increase†in property tax appraisals – some 20 percent on average. As a result, property owners there are paying an additional $18.4 million in taxes.
Rep. Hill has been the single greatest obstacle to property tax relief and appraisal reform in the Texas House.
Senate Passes Spending Transparency Legislation
Late last night the Texas Senate unanimously passed House Bill 3430, which gives Texas' taxpayers the ability to monitor spending and ensure tax dollars are being well-spent. This legislation marks a great milestone for fiscal accountability in Texas and across the country.
State Rep. Mark Strama and his colleagues in the House, and State Sen. Glenn Hegar and the other members of the Senate, along with both Speaker Tom Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, are to be congratulated for opening the state's expenditures, grants and contracts to healthy scrutiny and important sunlight. Having this transparency in spending is good for all Texans.
Thousands of Texans directed letters and phone calls to their legislators this Session, asking for this legislation to be enacted. Those efforts have paid off in moving the legislation unanimously through both chambers; now we wait for a conference committee to finalize the legislation before it is adopted by the governor.
Senate (Finally) Passes TIF Tax Repeal
The Senate this evening finally passed House Bill 735, legislation that represents one of the largest tax cuts in Texas history. The House version had the tax cut going into effect immediately, but the Senate opted to keep taking the tax for one more year. This is a tax, by the way, which was supposed to have gone away years ago; it had completed its statutory purpose but lawmakers decided they liked getting the money and refused to follow through on the promise to abolish it.
No Tax Reform, But An Industry Blooms
Remember the campaign promises for property tax relief? Seen your latest property tax bill? The rates are going down (a little, because of the 2006 tax swap), but the bills are going up (a lot, thanks to appraisal creep).Â
Â
Six days remain in the legislative session, and despite record-breaking budget surpluses lawmakers haven’t delivered on the desperately needed additional property tax relief.
That ticking sound from Austin
With just 10 days left in the legislative session, time is running out. On the one hand, that is a good thing – less time for bad things to get done. On the other, it’s less time for good things to be accomplished. Either way, the clock is ticking. Here are some important items pending in the Senate…
Texas House turns tax cut into spending increase
I've never seen anything quite like it. The Texas House today turned a $2.5 billion tax cut (H.B. 2785) into a $4.4 billion spending increase!
Your Tax Relief On Life Support
It's hard to believe I'm even having to write this: but your only shot at getting even a little bit of honest property tax relief is on life support, and hours away from death. Please call your legislator today and ask them to demand that House Bill 2785 come up for a vote right now!
Â
Due to the rules of the Legislature, H.B. 2785 must be heard essentially now, or it is dead.
Senate Leaders Won’t Answer Taxpayers’ Calls
When the moderate to liberal editorial board of the San Antonio Express-News 
blasts ostensibly conservative Republican Senate leaders for not getting rid of an outrageous tax, something is seriously wrong in Austin. That is what happened earlier this week.
Thousands of Texans Demand Budget Reform
Real Spending Limits, Budget Transparency Highlighted In Letters
AUSTIN, Texas – By the thousands, Texans are demanding that the legislature act now on significant budget reforms that will provide for a strong spending limit and real spending transparency.
Thousands of postcards and letters from Texas voters to their legislators were presented at a Capitol press conference this morning. They were then hand-delivered to the legislators’ offices. (Sign the letter online!)
More Taxes, Courtesy of Republican Fred Hill
There was once a time when Republicans were known as the tax-cutters; people who – if nothing else – would work to make sure the taxpayers’ money stayed in the taxpayers’ wallet (as State Rep. Rob Eissler likes to say).
That was then, this is now. State Rep. Fred Hill (R-Richardson) wants to raise your local taxes. Sure, he wants to start with the Dallas-Fort Worth area. But don’t worry; this new tax will spread like a virus to every city in Texas. He is pushing a bill to let those cities raise their sales tax to fund mass transit. (Never mind that mass transit is usually spelled “B-O-O-N-D-O-G-G-L-E.†or, in the original French, “P-O-R-Kâ€)
House Votes to Stop Appraisal Districts from Suing Taxpayers
While little has been accomplished this session for taxpayers so far, some good news came tod
ay when the House unanimously passed HB3490 which will prevent appraisal districts from suing property taxpayers when they win their appeal before the Appraisal Review Board (ARB). This common sense measure, which was triggered by a recent Wharton County case, that protects taxpayers from government-funded lawsuits when they have already won their case will now go to the Senate. The bill only applies if the value of the property is less than $1 million.
House Passes an Appraisal Relief Bill – Will the Senate Follow?
Last week, the Texas House finally passed a piece of property tax relief 
legislation, voting in favor of HB216 by Rep. John Otto (R-Dayton) by a margin of 87-53. This bill allows appraisal districts a margin of error of 10 percent, instead of the current 5 percent, in appraising properties. While the Texas Constitution prohibits a statewide appraisal, the Comptroller's Property Value Study (PVS) is used to reduce school equalization funds to districts taht are below 5 percent in the sample of properties evaluated by the PVS.