Nothing is worse than having a fire, with no way to put it out. There is a clear public purpose to be served in using tax revenues to fight fires. That's why people can, with a local vote, implement an Emergency Services District. These districts levy property taxes to fund fire, emergency rescue and ambulance services.

But not content with letting local voters decide tax priorities, legislators – led by Rep. Jim Keffer (R-Eastland) – want to add a new tax on all property insurance policies in the state to fund fire protection services (HB2421). So if you and your neighbors have a fire department (full-time or volunteer), which you fully fund and staff, you'll be taxed to pay for people who haven't done so somewhere else.

February 19, 2007

Dear Members of the Texas House:

For the sake of taxpayers, you and your colleagues should vote to bust the state’s spending cap. It is the opinion of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility that this is the only way Texans can be assured of receiving meaningful property tax relief.

We make the important distinction that tax relief should begin before reaching the cap, and then extend beyond the cap.

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.

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 population growth.

The president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Michael Quinn Sullivan, praised the proposal.

“Gov. Perry is putting the needs of working Texas taxpayers ahead of bureaucracy. By restricting the growth in government to maintaining the costs of current services, the legislature will be forced to live within the taxpayers’ means,” said Sullivan.

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 could not afford to pay their property taxes. The article notes that, in addition to the city and county, taxpayers are on the hook for two school districts and a navigation district, among other taxing authorities.

AUSTIN, Texas – More than 29,000 households in eight senatorial districts are receiving mail about the importance returning Texas’ record budget surplus to taxpayers. The president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility said taxpayers deserve to see further tax relief at the top of the Legislature’s priorities.

“There are many in Austin arguing that programs, agencies and bureaucracies ‘deserve’ those funds first, with taxpayers lucky to get any leftovers,” said Michael Quinn Sullivan. “Too often the voices of hard-working Texans are drowned out by the shrill demands of special interests seeking more from the taxpayers’ wallet.”

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs today officially certified the state’s surplus at $14.3 billion. The president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Michael Quinn Sullivan, offered the following statement:

The Legislative Budget Board meeting scheduled for Thursday, January 4 has been postponed to Thursday, January 11, apparently to give legislative leaders more time to chat with members about the setting of the spending limitation pursuant to the Constitution.  TFR has asked the LBB to use growth in gross state product (GSP) instead of growth in personal incomes when setting this cap in a letter that was included in our previous post on this subject.