The Latest
Where Priorities Stand With 1 Week Left in Third Special Session
No items on Gov. Abbott’s agenda have made it through the entirety of the legislative process.
Dallas, Fort Worth School Superintendents Leaving Lucrative Jobs
More than 60 Texas school superintendents take home salaries over $300,000, including Michael Hinojosa and Kent Scribner.
Single Mom to Gov. Abbott: Stop Employer Vaccine Mandates
Sheree Flanagan is one of several Texans being told to get jabbed or face termination.
Southwest Airlines Cancels Flights After Pilot Vaccine Mandate
As Southwest mandates the COVID-19 vaccine for all employees, more than 2,000 flights are canceled.
The Archive
Senator Nichols Stands Up for Homeowners
The Athens Review (Texas not Greece) reported today that Senator Robert Nichols, a Republican freshman representing Northeast Texas, has filed two bills to benefit homeowners. First, SB575 would cap appraisal increases at 5 percent for homeowners, though it would...
Bust the spending cap
Sullivan tells lawmakers: It’s okay to bust the cap for tax relief
Texas Senators today voted to bust the current spending cap so as to provide more property tax relief with the surplus than they might have otherwise. Before their vote, Michael Quinn Sullivan sent the following letter. February 14, 2007 Dear Members of the Texas...
Shenandoah Texas May Set Record for Per Capita Cost of Taxpayer-Funded Lobbyists
The Houston Chronicle recently reported that the town of Shenandoah Texas has hired taxpayer-funded lobbyists for $30,000 this session. At first blush, this is not shocking since our friends at Americans for Prosperity-Texas have estimated that governmental entities...
Taxpayers Deserve to be Paid Back
Corpus Christi's KRIS television reported this week that the Nueces County Hospital District is asking the Legislature to pass a bill that will allow them to recover money on behalf of taxpayers when those who receive "indigent" care later receive an insurance...
Governor promotes taxpayer protection
AUSTIN, Texas – In his State of the State Address, Texas Governor Rick Perry today proposed a strong new constitutional protection for the state’s taxpayers. The measure would limit the growth in state spending to a rolling, three-year average of inflation and...
Extreme Property Taxes Cause Texas to Lead Nation in Home Foreclosures – Breaking the Backs and Dreams of Ordinary Texans
In case anyone thought the revolt against skyrocketing property taxes is just coming from mostly white middle class suburbs, the Brownsville Herald carries a powerful staff editorial today denouncing the recent seizure of 250 local homes and businesses because owners...
Hang Up on the Texas Telephone Tax
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? Now, the...
Sprinting To A New Tax
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...