As Texas continue to struggle economically under the weight of government-ordered shutdowns in response to the Chinese coronavirus, calls for meaningful tax relief are becoming increasingly louder and more urgent. Now a grassroots coalition made up of 226 conservative...
The Texas House is preparing to vote on legislation on Wednesday that will increase your property taxes. Yes, you read that correctly— increase your property taxes. Despite making grandiose promises to provide real tax relief and meaningful reform, lawmakers plan to...
One prominent Austin lobby group has been in the tank for bigger government for a long time, but their vanity is now taking them even deeper down the drain. In a recent lobbying push, the state’s ostensibly pro-business lobby group, the Texas Association of Business,...
Though property taxes in Texas are already out of control, some local school districts are seeking to use the state’s 2015 property tax cuts as an opportunity to collect even more taxes. Fortunately, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is going to court to fight them....
More than 91 percent of Republican delegates voted to support a series of ballot transparency reforms. Unfortunately, despite a near super-majority of Republican legislators in both chambers, absolutely no progress has been made on this issue. Even if partially...
Though many lawmakers are less than honest with their constituents when they return home from Austin, one of them has been a little more frank. Delivering a straight-forward, cogent assessment of the 84th session to the Southwest Dallas County Republican Club...
There are a lot of scorecards grading lawmakers on how they performed in Austin. Some of them, such as TFR’s Fiscal Responsibility Index, provide an honest look at lawmakers’ voting records. We tell the public in advance our principles and priorities and which votes...
Texans fed up with property taxes got a glimmer of hope last night in the Texas House. The measure on the agenda? HB 506 by Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) which would have permitted school property tax rates to rise up to an additional 10 cents per $100 of valuation....
The battle between the two chambers of the Texas Legislature escalated late last week when State Rep. Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton) launched yet another attack on Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. The two have been publicly trading barbs over tax relief policy in a dispute that has...
With sine die and the end of the legislative session drawing near, the window is rapidly closing for Republican lawmakers to deliver on the campaign promises that propelled them to victory. Nobody campaigned on the status quo; rather they advocated for less...
Keeping in step with their approach to property tax relief, the Texas Senate passed SB 1760 by Conroe Republican Brandon Creighton. The measure increases transparency and accountability for taxpayers. Specifically, SB1760: Eliminating the requirement that taxpayers...
Tax relief moved easily through the Texas House on Tuesday, a full month after the Senate passed their package. Both the House and the Senate are working to implement tax relief, but the two chambers currently differ over the proper method. The Senate’s $4.6 billion...
Speaking at a small business in North Austin on Tax Day, Gov. Greg Abbott took time to brag on the many economic accomplishments of the Lone Star State. Abbott noted that while many Americans are dreading this day, it should be noted that in Texas lawmakers are...
On Tuesday afternoon, the Senate passed its budget for the 2016-17 biennium. At $211.4 billion, the Senate budget is slightly larger (by a margin of roughly $1.5 billion) than its House counterpart. However, the increase is not due to more spending, but may be...
The Senate recently passed a measure (SB 759) by a margin of 29-2 to repeal a series of petty taxes upon recommendation by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Liberal Democrat Sens. Sylvia Garcia and Jose Rodriguez were the two who opposed repeal even though...
It’s a sad fact that many lawmakers tell voters one thing, but do another once they’re elected. Unfortunately for Texans, the problem isn’t restricted to politicians in Washington, D.C.—the disease that replaces conviction with complicity is just as contagious in...
Wednesday afternoon on the heels of major victories for property and business tax relief in the Texas Senate, State Sen. Kevin Eltife (R-Tyler) took the opportunity to continue his foot-in-mouth parade. Perhaps bitter over the passage of such relief, some of which he...
On Tuesday morning, the House Appropriations Committee unanimously passed the budget plan provided in House Bill 1. HB 1, as passed by the committee, will spend $209.8 billion over the 2016-17 biennium, an increase of $7.4 billion from the $202.4 billion base budget...
While reducing debt is generally a good thing, comments by State Rep. John Otto (R-Dayton), a lieutenant of liberal House Speaker Joe Straus, reveal what conservatives have feared – some “debt reduction efforts” in the legislature have ulterior motivations. As he...
Legislators have filed bills seeking to repeal a slurry of petty and outdated taxes. For many of these taxes, administrative costs currently exceed revenue collections gained, making them highly inefficient. Others exist merely as burdensome relics of failed...
