“Earlier this week, the House spoke loud and clear that it did not support the inclusion of new taxes and fees in the bill. The bipartisan opposition included 51 Republicans, 33 Democrats, the leaders of both party caucuses, and cut across regional lines.”
The record vote taken by the House to instruct members of the conference committee to remove the new taxes and fees from the TxDOT sunset bill can be viewed online here.
“The conference committee is to be commended for focusing on much-needed reform at the Texas Department of Transportation. We expect the debate on transportation funding will continue, and we encourage the legislature and local communities to examine alternatives to raising taxes, such as ending diversions and utilizing existing sales taxes that are currently dedicated to purposes other than transportation.”
The Foundation has provided the Texas Legislature and public with considerable research on alternative mechanisms to address the transportation funding challenge without raising taxes. It can be viewed on our transportation research page.
Justin Keener is Vice President of Policy and Communications for the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin. More information can be found at the Foundation’s website, www.TexasPolicy.com.
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