Budget Surplus
TFR Statement on Appropriation Bills
Today, both the Texas House and Senate have released their budgets. Both the House and Senate appropriation bills provide $15B for property tax relief, with $12B to compress Maintenance & Operations rates by 7.75% and $3B to increase the homestead…
They Are Right, Texas Has a Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity
On Monday, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar released his long-awaited Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE) ahead of the 88th Legislative Session, which begins today. The BRE is an estimate of the revenue that the State of Texas expects to receive through the…
TFR Statement on the Growing Budget Surplus
On Monday, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar released his long-awaited Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE) ahead of the 88th Legislative Session, which begins Tuesday. One key takeaway from Hegarβs announcement, outside of the estimate lawmakers can spend, was that the historic budget…
Patrick’s Confusing Property Tax Relief Position
In a recent interview with Spectrum News 1, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick discussed a myriad of topics ahead of the upcoming 88th Legislative Session, including his thoughts on the prospects for property tax relief. The takeaway? He seemingly supports…
Phelan’s Plans for $27B Surplus Don’t Include Property Tax Relief
On Thursday, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan addressed the Transportation Advocacy Group in Houston, speaking on transportation and infrastructure issues, among other items. In the course of his address, he indicated he has other plans for the projected nearly $27…
Property Tax Bills Filed in Large Numbers, a Good Sign for Taxpayers
On Monday, lawmakers in both the Texas House of Representatives and Texas Senate began the process of prefiling legislation ahead of the upcoming 88th Legislative Session, and hundreds of bills have already been filed. 2023 will be a contentious year…
The Importance of Political Activism in Fiscal Policy
In the past year, conservatives have seen a lot of political activism in reaction to the Biden administration’s failures. We have also seen backlash from social norms moving away from traditional values. For instance, we have seen conservatives become politically…
Senate Committee on Local Government Meets on Important Taxpayer Items
This week, the Senate Committee on Local Government met to deal with a list of issues and charges, some of which involved property taxes, taxpayer-funded lobbying, and appraisal reform. In many ways, this was the Senate version of the charges…
Abbott Draws Line in the Sand on Budget Surplus Use for Property Tax Relief
On Wednesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott reportedly opined on the projected budget surplus and its partial use for the purposes of providing a property tax cut. βTexas is sitting on a record budget surplus of $27 billion… Because this…
Polling Suggests Most Texans Want True Property Tax Relief
This week, the Defend Texas Liberty PAC released polling that suggested a majority of Texans, from both major political parties, support using a majority of the projected budget surplus to lower their property tax burdens. Polling Results Among several…
Episode 1: Inflation, Surpluses, & Border Security (Premiere Episode)
Episode Description π° In our premiere episode of π§ππ«π£ππ¬ππ₯ π§ππππ¦, we discuss the recently projected $27 billion budget surplus that Texas state lawmakers will have the ability to allocate in the upcoming legislative session, the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act…
Abbott Forecasts ‘Biggest Property Tax Cut in Texas History’
Recently, Texas Governor Greg Abbott gave the keynote address at the 18th annual West Texas Legislative Summit in San Angelo, Texas. In the address, he talked about property taxes and other issues in his plan for the upcoming legislative session….
Do Not Let Texas Lawmakers Plunder Our Money
Last week, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced an updated revenue estimate, which increased our continually growing budget surplus by nearly $14 billion. Yes, you heard that right $14 billion more! This raised the previous estimate from roughly $13 billion to…
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar Announces Historic Surplus in Updated Estimate
Thursday, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar released his updated revenue estimate for the state of Texas. Previously the surplus estimate coming off of the most recent legislative session was around $8 billion. This estimate was updated in November of 2021 to…
Texas Comptroller To Announce New Revenue Increase On Thursday
Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee held its first interim hearing to consider some of their assigned interim charges involving the state budget. Among the invited testimony was that of Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who came to give a general update…