Tag Archives: property taxes
The Power Politics Behind the House’s Bipartisan, Kumbaya, Feel-Good Session
House Speaker Dennis Bonnen altered his party’s near-term agenda in service of the GOP’s long-term political project: Power. Will it work?
Weeks before the 2019 legislative session even began, Jeff Leach foreshadowed the shifting political winds that would ultimately animate lawmakers. In early Dec...Read More
GOP Leadership’s Tax Swap Tests the Limits of the Texas Trickle-Down
Abbott, Patrick and Bonnen are doubling down on a proposal that raises taxes on the majority of Texans and help only a rarified few. Even Republicans are spooked.
Dan Patrick’s face said it all. At a Friday afternoon press conference in the Texas Capitol, the lieutenant governor looked downright sullen as Governor Greg ...Read More
Governor Abbott’s Sales Tax Ploy Diverts from the Real Problem: Huge Tax Breaks for Corporations
The Big Three’s proposed sales tax hike obscures the real culprit behind the state’s broken property tax system: corporate plunder.
Homeowners are getting smothered by skyrocketing property tax bills. Republicans would have you believe this is because big cities and school districts are led ...Read More
A Storm is Brewing in Greg Abbott’s Sunshine-and-Rainbows Texas
The governor’s State of the State address was heavy on Texaphile platitudes and predictably light on details. Despite the kumbaya, fault lines are already forming.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott spent the first 15 minutes of his State of the State address Tuesday painting a picture of Texas as the Promised Land. A thousand ref...Read More
Texas Has Plenty of Money, But Will Lawmakers Use it to Fix Their Years of Negligence?
State Comptroller Glenn Hegar released his revenue estimate for the 2020-2021 biennium. The upshot is: There’s money to spend, if the Legislature is willing.
Things appear to be going swimmingly for those hoping that Texas legislators will finally address two of the state’s most intractable, intertwined problems: a...Read More
New Democrats Hope For a More Bipartisan Texas Senate in 2019
Democrats will have a little more leverage in Dan Patrick’s far-right Senate on issues like property taxes and public school funding.
When the Texas Senate convenes in January, Democrats will have one more senator in their ranks. But the reality is that Republicans and Lieutenant Governor Dan ...Read More
Mike Collier Has a Problem: Dan Patrick Ain’t Taking His Bait
If his campaign is to gain momentum in the roughly three months before Election Day, Collier needs to smoke Patrick out of the hole he’s hiding in — and fast.
Mike Collier has been publicly trying to get a rise out of the usually bombastic Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick ever since he launched his campaign to un...Read More
Law Enforcement Increasingly Opposed to Abbott’s Agenda
A cap on property taxes joins a growing list of special session measures opposed by Texas law enforcement.
On Wednesday, the resistance to the governor’s special session agenda wore cowboy hats and badges. Dozens of law enforcement and emergency personnel fille...Read More
Dan Patrick Is Holding the Legislature Hostage Over ‘Bathroom Bill,’ Property Tax Reform
The lieutenant governor said Wednesday he is prepared to force a special session if those two bills aren’t passed.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said Wednesday he will force a special session unless the House passes versions of the anti-transgender bathroom bill and a prop...Read More