Spent a few minutes at the Capitol this morning, and the sense of panic there among the lobbyists for big-spending governmental entities is palpable. They have a (correct) sense of impending doom. That’s bad for them and good for taxpayers.
The anti-taxpayer lobbyists representing such entities as the “Texas Municipal League” (slogan: we want to keep citizens in the dark while creating big debt) and the “Texas Association of Counties” (slogan: we spend tax dollars to oppose taxpayers) and the various educrat unions (slogan: public schools exist to employ us) are all on high alert.
That’s because a series of sunlight measures are getting hearings in the Texas House and Senate today. In the Senate Finance Committee, Paul Bettencourt’s Senate Bill 182 would lower the threshold by which property tax burden increases must require voter approval. Shocking, right?
Well, the spend-it-all crowd is furious. Local government bureaucrats like having an automatic increase in revenues because other local bureaucrats claim your property value rose. And they love that there is nothing much you can do about it.
Bettencourt’s legislation changes that.
Over in the Texas House, Matt Shaheen is presenting HB 1257 and HB 3219. These measures would put a stop to tax-funded entities hiring lobbyists.
As you might imagine, the legion of former lawmakers and the children of current lawmakers who make a tidy sum of off “representing” local governments are none too pleased.
Shaheen’s measure has the full-throated endorsement of Gov. Greg Abbott. And the Texas GOP platform.
