Articles tagged: taxes
The Unlikely Demise of Texas’ Biggest Corporate Tax Break
After 20 years, the state’s most lucrative corporate welfare program comes to an end.
In 2001, state lawmakers and business leaders warned that the state’s high property tax rates were discouraging corporations from locating big projects in...Read More
Yet Another Rural Texas Hospital is in Jeopardy After Anti-Tax Activists Kill Funding Proposal
As rural hospitals struggle across the state, local voters killed a proposition to create a hospital taxing district meant to keep a facility in La Grange open for the foreseeable future.
The voters of Fayette County have spoken, and they’ve said that they don’t need a hospital in this rural community of 25,000 people, one hour southeast of A...Read More
With Proposed Tariffs on Mexico, Trump Attacks Texas
Trump’s 5 percent tax on Mexican goods over Central American immigration would hit Texas harder than any other state.
On Thursday, President Trump announced on Twitter that he plans to impose a 5 percent tariff on all goods coming into the United States from Mexico, effective J...Read More
‘I Would Have to Drop Out’: 200 Texas Grad Students Walk Out to Protest GOP Tax Bill
Students at UT-Austin Wednesday protested both proposed tax legislation and what they say are exploitative labor conditions.
As part of a series of protests nationwide, around 200 graduate students walked out of classrooms, labs and office hours at the University of Texas at Austin We...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
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
Once Again, School District Shuts Down Tax Break for Gas Exporter
For the second straight year, the Point Isabel ISD board rejected a tax break for a company hoping to ship liquefied natural gas from Brownsville....Read More
The Doctor is Out
Bowie had one last chance to save its community hospital. Then anti-tax activists launched their campaign.
Bowie had one last chance to save its community hospital. Then anti-tax activists launched their campaign. Now, the small town is aching for the past....Read More
Free Lunch
Forget about the governor’s slush funds. Texas’ biggest corporate welfare program is one you’ve probably never heard of — and it’s growing every year.
Texas' largest corporate welfare program lets school districts give away unlimited tax breaks — more than $7 billion so far — with only loose state oversigh...Read More