Thousands of Republicans from across the state of Texas, descended into Houston last week to participate in crafting the platform for the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) among other party organizational items for the next two years. Elected delegates to…

In a recent Texas Senate Finance Committee Hearing, the subject of high property tax appraisals came up during a discussion on what should be done about the interim charge they were to consider related to property tax relief. The committee…

2022 has been an unprecedented year on a number of fronts. Texas, like the rest of the nation, has experienced record inflation, record gas prices, and sky-high home appraisals. Why have home prices been so high? Is it just a…

Monday, the Senate Committee on Finance met to discuss their interim charge related to property tax relief. They had the usual suspects show up as invited testimony: The Comptroller’s office and the Legislative Budget Board among others to discuss the…

Recently, Truth in Accounting published their latest Combined City Taxpayer Report of the 10 most populated cities in the United States and the debt burdens put on each of their taxpayers. The report attempts to measure the annual financial reports…

Understanding Texas’ property taxes, or more specifically understanding the means by which property taxes are levied, collected, distributed, and ultimately who bears responsibility for the increasing property tax burden in the state is admittedly a confusing endeavor; potentially intentionally so….

Saturday, Texas voters took to the polls to consider two statewide constitutional propositions, local elected offices, and various bond proposals. As the results came in, there appeared to be some very promising news for conservatives, especially in school board elections…

Wednesday, the Texas Senate Committee on Finance convened for the first time since the last special legislative session to consider interim charges related to the state budget.  Among the issues discussed were things like inflation, Russia, and state pension reforms….

Last week, the Midland Reporter-Telegram reported on the 15 highest-paid Texas state employees. They used data collected by The Texas Tribune as a part of their ‘Salaries Explorer’ obtained through information requests from the Texas State Comptroller. Curiously, 11 of…

On Monday, President Biden met with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, where among other issues he mentioned that his administration is looking into options to forgive a substantial but unspecified amount of federal student loan debt. Earlier this month,…

The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released Tuesday reveals that year-over-year inflation for the month of March hit 8.5%. This was a 1.2% increase from the previous month of February. Inflation has become a major problem for most Americans…

If you are a Texas property ‘owner’ it is likely you have already received your property appraisal this week from your county’s appraisal district. Many Texans are reporting higher than expected appraisals, which almost assuredly translates to an increased property…

Monday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (R), released his list of interim charges to all Senate committees. Every legislative cycle, the leaders of each respective legislative chamber issue interim charges for each committee to study in preparation for the next…

Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced his intention to make the current Senate Committee on Higher Education a sub-committee of the Senate Committee on Education in the upcoming 88th legislative session. In preparation for such a thing and in response…

Rumors have already begun to swell around Austin that there is the possibility of a historic budgetary surplus heading lawmakers’ way as appropriators begin to consider the state budget for the next biennium. The Austin swamp is already salivating about…