AUSTIN – Today, Vance Ginn, Ph.D., senior economist and director of the Center for Economic Prosperity, and Kara Belew, senior education policy advisor for the Center for Innovation in Education, of the Texas Public Policy Foundation will provide invited testimony before the Texas Commission on Public School Finance.
“Texas’ property tax system has turned property owners into renters, where government is their landlord and Texans who struggle to pay their taxes could risk the confiscation of their properties,” said Ginn. “Additionally, the growth of government is harming taxpayers and the economy through higher taxes and more regulation. Texans can cut property taxes nearly in half in just over a decade by eliminating district-level taxes for school M&O.”
This meeting of the Commission’s Working Group on Revenues will focus on revenues related to public school finance. The testimony by Ginn and Belew will address property tax relief and accurately accounting for taxpayer dollars spent on public education.
“Texans deserve to know the full revenue picture, and how much taxpayer money is actually being collected and spent at the state and local level for public education,” said Belew. “More revenue at the state level may require a statewide tax increase, harming families and business. Further, it is unclear whether more state tax money will improve student results. It matters much more what we spend taxpayer money on rather than how much we spend.”
Who: TPPF’s Vance Ginn, Ph.D., senior economist and director of the Center for Economic Prosperity, and Kara Belew, senior education policy advisor of the Center for Innovation in Education
What: Invited testimony before the Texas Commission on Public School Finance’s Working Group on Revenues
When: Hearing begins at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Where: Texas State Capitol | Room E1.012