Last week, the Texas House finally passed a piece of property tax relief legislation, voting in favor of HB216 by Rep. John Otto (R-Dayton) by a margin of 87-53. This bill allows appraisal districts a margin of error of 10 percent, instead of the current 5 percent,...
 It’s getting increasingly easy to get on the government gravy train. From movie studio execs to Ph.D. families, the hand-outs just don’t end in this Republican-controlled legislature. Small government. Right… This week, the Texas Senate’s...
The Tyler Morning Telegraph has a revealing story today (see link or below) in which Tom Pauken, the chair of the Governor’s Property Tax Reform Task Force, is quoted stating how disappointed he is with the lack of progress so far. He speaks candidly about...
Senator Dan Patrick has once again demonstrated that he is not afraid to rock the boat in order to stand up for taxpayers.  He not only voted against a $152 billion Senate budget ($2 billion more than the House version) but further listed over $2.9 billion in...
If you can come to the Capitol only once this session, tomorrow Tuesday, April 10 is a great day to do it. Vitally important legislation to limit the growth in government will be heard by the House Appropriations Committee beginning at 12:30 in Capitol Extension Room...
The McAllen Monitor reported that the new $150 billion House budget for the 2008-09 biennium includes some arguably pork barrel expenditures – most of those mentioned are earmarks for projects in the Rio Grande Valley. Among the taxpayer-funded projects...
So the cut-and-run retreat of Republicans from conservative values and principles continued this week. While the modern French are widely known for a willingness to surrender before a battle is fought, it seems Republicans in the Texas House are even willing to...
Comptroller Susan Combs this week estimated that the new state business tax on gross revenues would bring in $500 to $800 million less than expected. This estimate is based on voluntary submissions made by many affected businesses. However, many business, particularly...
For the last decade, Texas has been the national leader in making moves toward substantive, free-market reforms as means to solve problems and improve the quality of life.  T exas’ accomplishments have played an important role in helping other states, and even...
Representative Kelly Hancock , a Tarrant County Republican, has filed House Bill 1849 that will eliminate a tax imposed by the Texas Department of Insurance to Texas life insurers that now serves no purpose. In 2007, the state of Texas will collect $8.9 million in...
We know now that the state’s Texas Youth Commission was obscenely managed. The Texas Lottery was a scandal ridden mess a while back. The abuses of the Children’s Health Insurance Program are a lesson in lunacy. Name a government agency, and it’s been scandal...
 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...
In case you missed it, the Texas House this week approved the elimination of the Texas Infrastructure Fund tax. This egregious little tax has been levied on your phone bill for a decade. Everyone agrees the job the TIF tax was levied to do was finished (wire rural...
Mark Strama, a Democrat representing North Austin and Pflugerville, is proving that he is not beholden to liberal orthodoxy when it comes to fiscal responsibility. He has filed the following bills: HB 2966 mandates that funds collected from specialty license plate...
State Rep. John Otto (R-Dayton) is an accountant and strong conservative leader who the Lone Star Report says "is rapidly becoming the House leadership’s resident expert on all taxation issues." He has filed numerous bills to fix abuses in the property...
Legislative support is increasingly emerging for House Joint Resolution 53 by Rep. Ken Paxton which would greatly strengthen the state constitutional spending limitation and, for the first time, create a similar limitation for local governments. Authors and co-authors...
 Another great open-government bill is HB640 by State Rep. Byran Hughes (R-Mineola). This bill would require that all expenditures by each state agency, be easily available online. The posting would also have to include the purpose of the expenditure. This will let...
 State Sen. Dan Patrick has introduced legislation (SB1190/SJR41) that creates a government spending commission, similar to one authorized by Ronald Reagan in 1984. Reagan's Grace Commission made nearly 2,500 recommendations that eliminated more than $420...
Three right-thinking members of the legislature are recommending that more House and Senate votes be recorded, and therefore subject to public review. State Rep. Dan Branch (R-Dallas), State Rep. Brian McCall (R-Plano), and State Rep. Tony Goolsby (R-Dallas), have...
