State Sen. John Carona says in today’s Dallas Morning News that Texas must “stop the diversion of gas tax funds for other uses.†That’s welcome news. While the state’s constitution currently requires transportation funds to be used for transportation...
So you think you’re getting tax relief? If you live in Houston, chances are you are not. The school district there are doing everything they can to reach into your family’s pocket-book and exact every last dollar they can.Houston ISD and Cypress-Fairbanks ISD are...
Bad ideas are running rampant in Beantown. I’ve come to Boston for the National Conference of State Legislators. It should be called the National Conference for Growing Government. By and large, NCSL is a cheerleading session for those legislators, bureaucrats,...
Advocates of big government rarely let facts get in the way of their pursuit of growing budgets. Such is the case with Waco Tribune-Herald editor John Young, whose weekly column is very often devoted to the worship of government (of the activist variety) and the...
The headline in today's Houston Chronicle says it all: City union asks for property tax relief. My heart leapt for joy: Bureaucrats are now joining the call for tax relief! But then I read the article… They don't want property tax relief for all...
In Dallas County, total property values are up 16 percent, with about half of that attributable to increases on existing properties, according to a Dallas Morning News report. Although Collin County has not posted 2007 average home values yet, the Dallas Morning News...
The Houston Chronicle reported over the weekend that medical professionals are skeptical that the legislature’s new $3 billion “cancer fund” will accomplish much more than spend $3 billion of the taxpayers’ money. But, don’t worry, it was...
An elected official (a Republican, no less) told me yesterday he doesn’t mind paying taxes because it is “the price of freedom.” His doe-eyed statement was wrong on a great many levels, practical and philosophical. First and foremost, freedom’s...
Today, the State Auditor released a report certifying that the Department of Agriculture met only 60 percent (3 of 5 with one of the three certified with qualification) of its performance measures. That’s the same Department of Agriculture that, as noted in this...
If you've ever been to Hitchcock, which is situated in the shadows of Texas City and its effusive refineries, despite the proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, you might be forgiven for not having thought you were in Palm Beach. Hitchcock may not seem like a ritzy...
The San Antonio Express-News reports that many small business owners around the state are facing huge bills due under the new state gross receipts tax which starts in 2007, with the first payment to the state due by May 2008. The article notes that many firms are...
The Texas Department of Agriculture will this Sunday serve up a heain’ helpin’ of taxpayer dollars as the chief sponsor of an artsy “wine dinner” in Austin. Were you invited? Me, either… The event benefits the Texas Wine & Food...
A report issued by the Office of the Inspector General at the Texas Education Agency has shed light on a contracting process ripe for fraud and abuse. It is alleged that individuals received large subcontracts from one of the Education Service Centers, divisions of...
From the “Oh, What a Big Surprise Department,” comes news that spending billions of taxpayer dollars on “nutrition education” has been a failure. The Associated Press article makes it clear that about the only thing accomplished was making kids...
According to a Dallas Business Journal article , the owners of several Dallas-area shopping centers, including Highland Park Village and Preston Trail Plaza, are suing the Dallas Central Appraisal District and the Dallas Appraisal Review Board, saying the method the...
Besides just bad philosophy, one of the worst contributors to government growth is our misplaced emphasis on defining success by activity. When you stand on the plains and look to the horizon, a great cloud of dust can be either an army purposefully on the move, or a...
Found this revealing tidbit on the Austin American-Statesman's entertainment pages: Those hotel occupancy taxes in Texas’ big cities are so high they’ll give you a nosebleed. Example: My $279 stay at the lovely Granduca Hotel in Houston a few days ago...
In signing two pieces of legislation today, Texas Governor Rick Perry and the Legislature delivered on two elements of the sound fiscal agenda promoted by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and supported by thousands of voters and taxpayers. The governor today announced...
Just how did the legislative session go? We’ll be releasing a full legislative score card soon, but overall, this legislative session was a bust. The cumulative score of all members of the Texas House and Texas Senate, on fiscal issues, was an abysmal 52%. Meaning?...
