State Budget
Are Lawmakers Going to Give Us ‘The Biggest Property Tax Cut in Texas History’?
If you have been paying attention to all of the noise surrounding property tax relief this session, you have probably heard the phrase, “We are going to give Texans the biggest property tax cut in history!” This was most recently…
The Frozen Texas Budget Path to Eliminating Property Taxes
An Overview Texans for Fiscal Responsibility’s 3-Step Plan to Eliminate All Property Taxes While Texas has done a better job at keeping spending and taxes lower than many other states, thereby supporting a more robust business tax climate and more…
Senate Finance Committee Schedules Hearings on State Budget
Texas taxpayers have an opportunity to voice their concerns on how lawmakers intend to spend their money over the next two fiscal years as a part of the state budget. The Texas Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a series of…
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…
What Does a Successful Legislative Session Look Like?
With the 88th Legislative Session set to begin in January, we are increasingly asked by taxpayers and lawmakers alike what winning looks like to Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. That is what we are going to discuss in this article. As…
Texas Given a ‘D’ Rating on Fiscal Health
Recently, Truth in Accounting released its 2022 Financial State of the States Report analyzing the financial health of all 50 states in the United States. They have released this annual report for the past 13 years. According to the report,…
Episode 10: BONUS EPISODE: Bill Peacock, Host of The Liberty Cafe Podcast
Episode Description π° In this bonus episode of π§ππ«π£ππ¬ππ₯ π§ππππ¦, we talk with Bill Peacock, host of The Liberty Cafe Podcast and curator of ExcellentThought.net about fiscal issues facing Texas including what changes, if any could benefit the state budgeting…
Political Theatre on Fiscal Prudence in Texas House of Representatives
During the 86th legislative session in 2019, state lawmakers passed legislation related to strategic fiscal reviews of state agencies and programs, seemingly an attempt at fiscal prudence relating to the allocation of tax dollars at the state level for some…
Explainer: What Are 313 Tax Abatements?
A topic that has become more popular recently due to Speaker Dade Phelan’s support for their renewal is Chapter 313 tax abatements. However, when interacting with taxpayers, I have noticed that most people have no clue about the controversial program….
House Committees Met on Issues Important to Texas Taxpayers
On Thursday, both the Texas House Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees held interim public hearings in preparation for the upcoming legislative session set to begin in January of 2023. Texans for Fiscal Responsibility was there in person to help…
Explainer: How does the Texas Budget Work?
The Texas budgeting process is one that very few people actually understand in Texas politics, let alone how lawmakers arrive at a finalized budget for the next two fiscal years. In this explainer, we aim to give a simple overview…
Huffman Named Chairman of Senate Finance
Tuesday, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced that he was naming Republican State Sen. Joan Huffman (Houston) as the new Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, replacing outgoing Republican State Sen. Jane Nelson (Flower Mound) who has chaired the…
TFR Statement on State Budget
Following the Texas Senate’s passage of the conference committee report on the state budget, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility president Cary Cheshire issued the following statement: Texas lawmakers have passed a budget that does not deliver substantial property tax relief. Instead…
TFR Statement on Senate Passage of SB 1
Following the unanimous passage of Senate Bill 1, the state budget, in the Texas Senate, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility president Cary Cheshire issued the following statement: “The Texas Senateβs budget provides only a modest increase in total state spending below…
Implement Zero-Based Budgeting
As conservatives know, government is an inherently greedy beast. It seizes every opportunity to grow and, in theΒ words of Democrat Rahm Emanuel, it βnever lets a good crisis go to waste.β However, in combating the natural trend of bureaucracy to…