Texas Legislature to Massively Increase State Spending
“Taxpayers simply deserve better.” — Tim Hardin, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility

Sydnie Henry | May 26, 2023

https://texasscorecard.com/state/texas-legislature-to-massively-increase-state-spending/

As the 88th Legislative Session comes to a close, lawmakers must still approve a state budget for the next biennium—but it doesn’t have to amount to the largest spending increase in 20 years.

Lawmakers from the House and Senate have presented a conference committee report for House Bill 1 (the budget) that Texans for Fiscal Responsibility President Tim Hardin said “represents perhaps the largest increase in spending in Texas history [and] is certainly the biggest since 2003.”

“Voting in favor of the Conference Committee Report to House Bill 1 is a vote to greatly expand the size and scope of the Texas government,” said Hardin.

This final version of HB 1 increases spending to $321 billion, a 21.3 percent jump from the previous biennium’s appropriations.

Although lawmakers have been working with a historic budget surplus—that is, they took too much in taxes from citizens—of nearly $33 billion, they have not allocated the majority of it toward new property tax relief, as Hardin and others have advocated.

According to Hardin, “The property tax relief that has steadily improved throughout the session due to taxpayer pressure still falls short of the promised ‘largest property tax cut in Texas history.’”

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Instead, [lawmakers] have proposed perhaps the largest increase in spending in Texas history [and] the potential revival of the biggest corporate welfare boondoggle in Texas history, increased bureaucrat salaries and their own pensions, and overly funded our woke higher education system and unaccountable government schools.

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“Taxpayers simply deserve better,” said Hardin.

-- excerpt, rest at link above --

Quote: Amontillado wrote in post #2

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According to Hardin, “The property tax relief that has steadily improved throughout the session due to taxpayer pressure still falls short of the promised ‘largest property tax cut in Texas history.’”

Well, there are some feeling relief.

Take the tax appraisal district. LCAD leases its office on property R7182 in Groesbeck from SVEA in Austin, as best I can follow the worm in the spaghetti.

LCAD sold to Wornat in Marlin in 2013, who sold to SVEA in 2018. Nice that the appraisal district keeps their offices on the tax roll.

But curious that the Appraisal District's office value has remained unchanged from 2021 forward and is only up 5% from 2019.

Meanwhile, SVEA must be breathing a sigh of relief for their holdings in Limestone County. Their offices in Travis County are up 126% from last year.

Different county, different market - but could this be that moment foretold by dark and ancient quatrains, a sign of the end times, when Travis County isn't the crookedest county in Texas?

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Abbott backs Phelan’s property tax cut plan, spurring ire from Patrick
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/30/..._eid=6276fc82d6


The House passed a bill without Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s preferred increase to homestead exemptions — then abruptly adjourned for the special session. That basically tells the Senate to take the House bill Gov. Greg Abbott backs or leave it.

by Joshua Fechter, Uriel J. García and Alex Nguyen May 30, 2023 Updated: 13 hours ago
Republish
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick recaps the 88th Legislative Session with Sherry Sylvester, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, at TPPF Headquarters in downtown Austin, on May 30, 2023.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick recaps the 2023 regular legislative session with Sherry Sylvester, distinguished senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, at TPPF headquarters in downtown Austin on May 30, 2023. Credit:
Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune

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After weeks of bickering over whose proposal to cut Texans’ property taxes is better, House Speaker Dade Phelan sent a clear message to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, his Senate counterpart, on Tuesday: Take our pitch or leave the special session with nothing.

That message was delivered when the House abruptly adjourned Tuesday after swiftly passing bills on property tax relief and migrant smuggling — the sole items that Gov. Greg Abbott demanded from a special session that began Monday night.

Soon after the vote, Abbott appeared to back the House’s move, while Patrick signaled he wasn’t ready to back down.

The adjournment means the chamber can’t meet for the rest of the special session, leaving the Senate to accept the version of the bills the House passed or not pass any bill this session.

That bold legislative gambit appeared to be an effort to force the Senate to accept two House bills — one that would increase the minimum sentence for someone convicted of smuggling people and operating a stash house to at least 10 years under state law, and another that would use $12.3 billion in state funds to reduce school property taxes across the state.

For the smuggling bill, that might not be a huge hurdle. A similar version has been filed in the Senate.

But for property taxes, it would require Patrick, who presides over the Senate, to essentially accept what Phelan is pushing without making any changes. And given how Patrick and Phelan have clashed over property taxes for most of the year, that might be a tough pill to swallow.-- excerpt, rest at link above --

Brett Rogers@BrettRogersTX
https://twitter.com/BrettRogersTX/status/1664243831519293440


I read this today:

"Compression: What is it? It's simply reducing the school tax rate you personally pay by 5 to 20 cents (whatever it is in a particular session) and having the state pay the school district instead of you."

Since the state gets all of its money from us, I'll re-word that last part: "having you pay the school district instead of you."

Maybe it's collected differently, but the source is still the people.

Here's a novel concept: since the people will always have to pay for what the government spends, if the aim is to give the people tax relief, how about less spending instead of record spending?

Call me crazy, but math does suggest that.

The trick with that is spending less which leads to less need for taxation and lower taxes... but that wouldn't allow anyone to look noble by saying the state will pay for it instead of you.

Remember: there is no "public funds" or "state revenue." There is only taxpayer money. That's you.

I don't know anything about this person but am willing to support in order to primary Phelan.

He sounds like a good alternative to Phelan....