The Project Seeks to Reform How Texas Collects Taxes

Texas Comptroller Don Huffines announced on August 18¹ a package of tax-administration reforms he is calling the Taxpayer First Project. The Comptroller’s office said the new policies, “collectively known as the Taxpayer First Project, constitute the most significant reform of tax administration under the Texas Comptroller in decades.”

The work is all about how the state collects taxes and fees, how it writes rules, how it runs hearings, and how quickly it returns money when someone has overpaid. The project comes less than three weeks after Huffines was sworn in² on August 1.³ 

What the Comptroller Says Will Change

In the press release announcing the project, Huffines said, “For too long, Texas businesses had to navigate unfair, retroactive policy changes, confusing rules that were inconsistently applied and painfully slow refunds when they overpaid their taxes.” He added, “I will put taxpayers first because Texans deserve fair, consistent and clearly defined rules to ensure remitting accurate funds to the state can be achieved with ease and confidence.”

The reforms include: 

• Streamline and modernize tax administration
• Clearly communicate policy through public rulemaking, not internal directives
• End unfair retroactive policy changes
• Fix the broken, slow administrative hearings process
• Expedite refunds owed to taxpayers
• Improve audit operations with modern technology
• Ensure a transparent and fair settlement process
• Decentralize case resolutions

These reforms should be the standard. People who pay Texas taxes should be able to find the rule, follow it, and get a prompt refund if the state collected too much. A policy change that reaches backward is a penalty on compliance. A refund that sits in Austin for months is an interest-free loan from the taxpayer to the state.

The Comptroller collects more than 100 taxes and fees, including local sales tax for more than 1,800 cities, counties, and other local taxing entities. This biennium the office said it is expected to collect nearly $355 billion.

The only step the office described as already finished is new leadership over tax administration. The release did not specifically name those officials.

If these reforms are carried out, Texas taxpayers who remit sales tax, franchise tax, and other state accounts will hopefully deal with a clearer, more efficient, and taxpayer-friendly agency. More public rulemaking would mean a taxpayer can read the requirement before its binding. Ending retroactive policy changes would stop the state from moving the goalposts after taxes are filed. Faster refunds would put cash back with the people who actually earned it.

Other Moves Happening at the Comptroller’s Office 

Huffines has launched other reviews in his first weeks, separate from the tax-administration work he announced on August 18.

On August 4 he announced⁴ a performance review of the Comptroller’s own office,⁵ covering business processes, vendor contracts, administrative structure, all measured against private-sector practice. He tied that review to the 3 percent spending⁶ reduction the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker have directed state agencies to find.

On August 19, Governor Greg Abbott asked the Comptroller⁷ to examine school-district finances so that taxpayer dollars “directly reach students, classrooms, and teachers, instead of being absorbed by central-office growth, administrative bloat, consultants, and the web of noninstructional bureaucracy.” Abbott invoked Tax Code section 111.003, asked the Comptroller to select up to four ISDs of varying size and geography, and set December 31, 2026, as the date for a final report⁸ to the Governor.

The Comptroller answered that request the same day⁹ with the Huffines Performance Review,¹⁰ a forthcoming look at whether district spending complies with the law and reaches students rather than just administrative growth.

Legislative Action is Still Needed

Huffines can change how his office writes rules and processes refunds. He cannot bind the next Comptroller. A successor can restore retroactive guidance, slow the hearings, and sit on refunds again. That is why taxpayers must keep pressing the Legislature. Taxpayer-first policies must become the law of the land. 

The 90th Legislature can lock those practices in. Until it does, every reform  is just one election away from being reversed.

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1. https://comptroller.texas.gov/about/media-center/news/20260818-texas-comptroller-don-huffines-puts-taxpayers-first-with-reforms-built-on-fairness-transparency-and-respect-1786649731868 ↩︎
2. https://comptroller.texas.gov/about/media-center/news/20260801-don-huffines-sworn-in-as-texas-comptroller-refuses-salary-calls-for-property-tax-relief-1785512488796 ↩︎
3. https://texastaxpayers.com/don-huffines-sworn-in-as-comptroller/ ↩︎
4. https://comptroller.texas.gov/about/media-center/news/20260804-huffines-announces-performance-review-of-comptrollers-office-1785876225807 ↩︎
5. https://texastaxpayers.com/don-huffines-sworn-in-as-comptroller/ ↩︎
6. https://texastaxpayers.com/texas-leaders-call-for-fiscal-restraint-but-will-real-cuts-to-state-spending-be-enacted/ ↩︎
7. https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-requests-comptroller-investigate-school-district-finances-to-ensure-taxpayer-dollars-reach-students-and-teachers ↩︎
8. https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/Don_Huffines_Public_Education_Financial_Transparency_081926.pdf ↩︎
9. https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/Don_Huffines_Public_Education_Financial_Transparency_081926.pdf ↩︎
10. https://texastaxpayers.com/abbott-and-huffines-launch-investigation-of-school-admin-bloat/ ↩︎