Not including the new margin tax surcharge from Sprint, Texans already paid 18 percent of their telephone bill in government taxes and fees. That's outrageous. Why shouldn't the same sales tax apply to telephone bills as to every other purchase?

My Sprint cellphone bill arrived today, featuring a brand new fee: The Texas Margin Fee Reimbursement. This is Sprint's attempt to make visible the new business tax implemented by the Texas Legislature last sprint. Some in the legislature are crying foul, but Sprint has the nerve to do what lawmakers usually don't — admit that business taxes are borne by people, not business. Most other businesses won't put the burden of the tax on the bill — but you and I are still paying for it.

AUSTIN, Texas – Gov. Rick Perry today proposed four key budget reforms designed to promote fiscal responsibility.

Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, praised the proposals, saying they shine more sunlight on the state’s finances.

“These proposals set the tone for good budget policy and sound government. They promote higher levels of accountability and transparency,” said Sullivan. “Texas’ hard-working families deserve honest bookkeeping from the state legislature. Since we foot the bill, taxpayers should be allowed to review all the expenses to know our money is being spent wisely.”

A central purpose of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility is to give taxpayers a voice in Austin in the face of the powerful forces that lobby for more spending. Is there a way to determine whether fiscally conservative organizations or groups that advocate more government have greater concern for taxpayers?

In a matter of months, your legislator will hopefully, after hearing from you, vote to return the surplus to taxpayers. However, you can vote today in an online poll sponsored by the Houston Business Journal which asks respondents how the Texas surplus should be allocated.

Today, State Rep. Ken Paxton filed a proposed constitutional amendment (House Joint Resolution 46) that would give the Governor authority to cut wasteful spending in the budget. Currently, the Constitution allows the Governor to exercise a line item veto over individual budget items.

Today, State Rep. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) filed House Bill 640 to require all state agencies to post a list of their expenditures online. The bill states:

Each state agency that maintains a generally accessible Internet site or for which a generally accessible Internet site is maintained shall post on the site all expenditures made by the agency. The posting must include the purpose for which each expenditure is made.

We applaud Rep. Hughes for filing this legislation, which was also part of Governor Rick Perry’s budget reform proposal. It is also important that each agency categorize and post expenditures in one, easy-to-understand format. Comptroller Susan Combs has expressed interest in working with the various state agencies to bring about a day when all agencies use the same codes to classify expenditures. This will foster efficiencies in administering and auditing programs that involve multiple state agencies.

The Houston Chronicle has a disturbing piece about some Wharton County property taxpayers who find themselves as defendants in a lawsuit filed by their appraisal district after they successfully obtained reductions from the Appraisal Review Board (ARB). The chief of their appraisal district disagrees with the reductions made by the very people she appointed to the ARB so now she is hauling these taxpayers into district court, forcing them to incur legal fees in the process.