It was not that long ago that property tax abatements were illegal in Texas because they were considered to be theft. This historic and biblical perspective was embedded in the Texas Constitution. Acknowledging the ethical and economic problems with the government giving taxpayer money to individuals or businesses, the Constitution contains what is known as the Gift…
Category: Government
Chapter 312 and 313 Tax Abatements are Theft
Property tax abatements under Chapters 312 and 313 of the Texas Tax Code allow counties, cities, school districts, and special purpose districts to reduce the amount of taxes paid by favored businesses that locate or expand within their geographic boundaries. They are used by renewable energy developers in concert with state and federal subsidies to turn…
Two Approaches to Economic Development
“The conventional approach to economic development … is based on a technocratic illusion: the belief that poverty is a purely technical problem amendable to … technical solutions.” ~William Easterly, The Tyranny of Experts There are two different approaches to economic development, according to Dr. William Easterly. One is technocratic or authoritarian development, a…
Texans are Ready to End Corporate Property Tax Breaks
Following his recent speech to the Texas Oil and Gas Association, Rep. Dade Phelan, speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, tweeted that the Texas Legislature is “developing a program to replace Chapter 313,” the soon to be defunct provision in the Texas Tax Code that allows school districts to give property tax breaks to…
Texans are still waiting for property tax relief
Toward the end of the 86th Texas Legislature’s regular session in 2019, some of Texas’ leading politicians couldn’t stop congratulating themselves on the success of their efforts to provide property tax relief. “We are making tremendous strides to provide long-awaited relief to Texas homeowners and businesses,” said Gov. Greg Abbott in a press release. “Our…
What Was Ted Cruz Thinking?
I’ve been a fan of Ted Cruz long before he ran for office. We first met about 2008 when he was an attorney in private practice. He would give occasional luncheon speeches for my employer, the Texas Public Policy Foundation. I was amazed. As I told my wife at the time, every word that came…
The Houston Chronicle Takes on Chapter 313
I don’t usually find a lot worth quoting in the mainstream media. But the Houston Chronicle as been on a bit of a rampage of late against corporate welfare in the form of Chapter 313 property tax abatements offered by Texas school districts to big businesses–especially renewable energy wind and solar farms: “As millions of Texans…
Shutdowns Were a Disaster
by John Hinderaker The Wall Street Journal notes that, as the coronavirus disappears in the rear-view mirror, two Americas are emerging: The unemployment rate in April nationwide was 6.1%, but this obscures giant variations in the states. With some exceptions, those run by Democrats such as California (8.3%) and New York (8.2%) continued to suffer significantly higher…
Makems and Takems
Do Takems Have the Upper Hand? The people of Sunderland in England have been building, or making, ships on the River Wear as far back as the 14th century. Since that time, their neighbors to the north in Newcastle upon Tyne have been taking the ships from Sunderland and using them to ship goods from the…
Texans’ Liberty is at Risk Through Corporate Cronyism
Economic development means a lot of things to different people. One fairly common definition comes from the International Economic Development Council: “Typically economic development can be described in terms of objectives. These are most commonly described as the creation of jobs and wealth, and the improvement of quality of life.” What it really is, though,…