The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan research institute. The Foundation’s mission is to promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas by educating and affecting policymakers and the Texas public policy debate with academically sound research and outreach.
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This report reveals how tuition deregulation has reduced the incentive for Texas universities to keep spending under control, shifted some higher education costs from taxpayers to students, exposed the lack of price competition in higher education, and has not significantly reduced the long-term pressure on state appropriations for higher education.
Using data from the Census Bureau, this paper examines how Texas homeowners fare in relation to the average U.S. homeowner when it comes to paying property taxes and which Texas counties, in particular, face the highest burden.
Texas, having an economy tied to energy development and manufacturing, is particularly vulnerable to adverse impacts from federal mandates to reduce greenhouse gases. If pending legislation such as the Waxman-Markey bill is enacted, the Texas economy will significantly decline and thousands of valuable jobs will be lost.
With so many sweeping and often ambiguous criminal laws, including those that are created every week by regulatory agencies without the approval of elected officials, it is impossible for any person or business to regularly stay abreast of the line between what is legal and what is criminal.
Money from the federal government is often thought of as “free,” but, nothing could be further from the truth. The prevalence of federal funds has been shown to adversely affect a state’s economy, increase state government spending, and lead to a decline in state tax revenues.
New Taxes and Old Politics Will Not Fix Traffic Texans are tired of sitting in traffic, and elected officials have a choice. They can continue to pass the buck by offering only new taxes and greater spending for pet projects that won’t relieve congestion. Or they can do the hard work we expect of them by reprioritizing existing taxes and demanding greater accountability and transparency in transportation spending.
Houston, This is Detroit Calling Federal proposals to cap carbon emissions are tantamount to dumping sand in the gas tank of America’s economic engine.
States Are the Answer to Health Care Reform Now is the time for our best laboratories of innovation, the 50 states, to take the lead. There is much that can be done in Texas without federal action to lower costs and improve access.
Starting From Scratch Coming off a recession year, you can expect that Texans will be in no mood to see the next Legislature simply raise taxes and move on. Instead, expectations are high that lawmakers will balance the budget by tightening their belt—just as many households have already done.
Yes, Texas Can End the Property Tax The Texas Legislature and our last two governors have acted in good faith to reduce property taxes, but the combination of rising property valuations and local government excesses have caused property taxes to continue their surge. So what can our state do to relieve this burden?
Equip Students With Generations of Wisdom College coursework focusing on Western civilization and American traditions would teach students critical thinking and reasoning skills and provide a solid grounding in civic responsibility and ethical character – improving society in the wake of moral muddiness.
Net Neutrality Would Open Door to Government Censorship of Internet Proponents of “net neutrality” offer no explanation of how our government’s regulation of the Internet would differ from that of the Chinese government. In fact, the attack on current providers for prioritizing data is odd, considering both sides of the debate generally agree that prioritization is necessary—the FCC has included a “reasonable network management” exception to each of the proposed rules.
Texas’ manufacturing and energy sectors hardest hit by proposed caps on carbon emissions
The enactment of current federal proposals to cap carbon emissions could cost Texas as much as 200,000 jobs and $41 billion in economic activity in the year 2030, according to new research released today by the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
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TPPF report: Current efforts to cap carbon emissions would be detrimental to Texas' economy