State
Illegal Aliens From Africa and the Middle East Encountered at Texas Border
Groups of special interest illegal aliens—who are considered potential national security threats—continue to enter Maverick County.
Investigation Finds Potential Donation Laundering on Democrat Platform
Attorney General Ken Paxton is requesting the Federal Elections Commission create a rule to stop these questionable donations.
Gov. Abbott Challenges House Effort to Stop Execution, Asserts Sole Authority on Delays
Convicted of murdering his two-year old daughter in 2002, Robert Roberson was scheduled for execution last week.
Report: School Choice Could Ease Financial Pressure on Public Schools
EdChoice’s new report shows that school choice could save the state money in the long run.
State Archive
Texas Has 9th Highest Property Tax Burden
Carole’s Campaign Cadre
The Beaumont Enterprise is reporting that outgoing-Comptroller Carole Keeten-Strayhorn has in her waning days in office hired on campaign staff and added employees. Cost to taxpayers? $40,000, for two months of work. For work that apparently wasn't needed while she...
National Report Finds Texas Has Some of the Nation’s Highest Property Taxes
The Tax Foundation has released a new report with some bad news for Texas taxpayers that many probably already knew all too well. The report, which focuses on property taxes across the nation, found that Texas has the ninth highest property taxes of the 50 states as...
Merry Christmas: Hand over your money
Economist Stuart Greenfield opined in the subscription-based Quorum Report this week that while Texans are incredibly more generous individuals than others in the country (that part is right), our public policies keep the "state" from being as generous as the people...
Gov. Perry Readies a Christmas Present for College Students and an Accountability Lesson for Higher Ed
How do Texas college students know their tuition money and the share of taxes their parents paid that go towards higher education are actually used for expenditures that enhance the education they receive? Unfortunately, they don't because the state's higher...
Helping People
Does big government help people? The assumption made all too often is that the bigger the government, the more expansive the program, the more helpful it is. Indeed, we see that in the metrics used to justify continuing big government programs: how much money we...
Where There is a Hill, Is There a Way for Taxpayers?
The Texas House Local Government Ways and Means Committee chaired by State Rep. Fred Hill (R-Richardson) has released its interim report. News coverage of the report has centered on its opposition to appraisal caps, which was hardly surprising since Chairman Hill...
Advocates for Big Government: Paid for by… your taxes!
Roddy Stinson, a columnist at the San Antonio Express-News, has hit the nail on the head with a piece in today's paper. He correctly describes the response of local governments to the idea of slowing down the amount of money they can grab as "Weeping, wailing and...
Killing the Business Tax…
 When Texas lawmakers instituted the “gross margins†business tax, it is a safe bet they didn’t expect trail-lawyer-extraordinaire Mark Lanier to sue them over it. But that’s exactly what he’s planning on doing, according to today’s Houston Chronicle. ...