Tag Archives: property taxes
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
Why the Property Tax ‘Relief’ Bill is a Useless Sleight of Hand
State lawmakers blame local officials for property taxes, while passing futile bills to make it seem like they’re doing something.
State lawmakers blame local officials for property taxes, while passing futile bills to make it seem like they’re doing something....Read More
Study: Texas Spent $4.4 Billion Luring Businesses That Were Coming to the State Anyway
About 85 percent of the projects that received tax breaks through the Chapter 313 program didn’t need the incentive, according to a new study.
About 85 percent of the projects that received tax breaks through the Chapter 313 program didn’t need the incentive, according to a new study....Read More
Rationale for Texas’ Largest Corporate Welfare Program was a ‘Typographical Error’
What if Texas blew billions of dollars because someone misread an obscure business report 15 years ago? In March, the Observer took a close look at the state’...Read More