Jeramy Kitchen
Texas House Gives Initial Approval to Its Property Tax Relief Approach
On Thursday, the Texas House of Representatives considered legislation seeking to lower the appraisal caps from the current threshold of 10 percent as it applies to homestead property down to 5 percent, while allowing the cap to apply to all…
House Considers State Budget Proposal
On Thursday of last week, the Texas House of Representatives considered House Bill 1, or the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for the next biennium, fiscal years 2024 and 2025. The legislation represents the proposed state budget, the only item that…
Texas Senate Unanimously Passes Property Tax Relief Proposals – What It Means for Homeowners
On Wednesday, the Texas Senate unanimously passed all three property tax relief proposals prioritized by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Property Tax Relief ‘Package’ Of the three pieces of legislation considered as a part of the prioritized property tax relief…
How Leading Property Tax Relief Proposals Stack Up for Taxpayers
The 88th Legislative Session is now halfway complete, and legislation seeking to provide property tax relief is starting to move through the legislative process. Both chambers have provided some compression of school district maintenance and operations (M&O) property taxes, which…
Legislation Seeking to Ban Taxpayer-funded Lobbying Gets Hearing in Senate
On Monday, the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee considered legislation seeking to ban the practice of taxpayer-funded lobbying statewide. Though the legislation was left pending, it is likely to be passed out of committee and considered by the overall Senate…
Corporate Welfare Revival: Taxpayers Face Uphill Battle
Earlier this week, Texas taxpayers bore witness to yet another effort to revive the now-defunct largest corporate welfare program in Texas, the Chapter 313 tax abatement program. To make matters worse, Republican leadership in both chambers of the Legislature and…
Texas’ Largest Cities Continue to Burden Taxpayers With Debt
The fiscal watchdog organization Truth in Accounting (TIA) recently published its latest Financial State of the Cities Report for 2023. The report analyzed the financial health of the top 75 cities in America. “The report found that 50 cities did…
Gov. Abbott Flip-flops on Property Tax Elimination in State of the State
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday evening laid out his vision for the ongoing 88th Legislative Session and beyond, signaling to Texas state lawmakers what he wants them to prioritize. The speech is normally given in front of both chambers…
Corporate Welfare Revival Legislation Filed in Texas House
Late Thursday, Republican State Rep. J.M. Lozano (Kingsville) filed House Bill 2421 seeking to revive the largest corporate welfare program in Texas. The Chapter 313 tax abatement program, as a part of the Texas Economic Development Act, expired on December…
What Texas Taxpayers Should Expect Out of Abbott’s State of the State Address
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is set to give his State of the State address on Thursday evening and lay out his vision for the ongoing 88th Legislative Session and beyond. It is widely expected he will name specific policy issues…
Taxpayer Champion Seeks to Impose a Spending Limit on Local Governments
On Monday, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility Taxpayer Champion State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park) filed legislation seeking to impose a spending limit for city- and county-level local governments based on the rate of increase for both population and inflation. In…
Patrick Announces Legislative Priorities
On Monday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced his legislative priorities for the ongoing 88th Legislative Session. Generally speaking, low bill numbers are reserved by leadership in both legislative chambers to reflect their prioritized legislation. As such, Patrick has indicated…
Phelan Announces House Committee Assignments
On Day 30 of the ongoing 140-day 88th Legislative Session, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan announced the committee assignments for all House state lawmakers. In comparison, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced the Senate’s committee assignments more than two weeks…
Amount Spent by Local Governments on Taxpayer-funded Lobbying Increasing
A recent report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) indicates that an increasing amount of taxpayer money is being spent by local governments for the purposes of hiring contract lobbyists to go to Austin. The report indicates that upwards…
Polling Shows Support for School Choice Among Texans
On Monday, the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs released a report that seems to show a majority support for the policy of school choice. In the wake of government school reaction to the pandemic and in many…