Texas lawmakers are expected to vote on property tax relief this week. One key question is how to pay for those plans

AUSTIN, Texas — State lawmakers pumped the breaks on a priority property tax reform bill Thursday. It’s meant to slow down the rate in which your property taxes rise, but the Texas House postponed its expected debate after hours of delay. It appears to be out of courtesy to the Senate. That chamber was the…

In the years following World War II, Texas suffered years of fiscal challenges. A downturn in the oil and gas market meant the state was getting relatively little by way of tax from that industry. With no personal income tax available for revenue, lawmakers in 1961 turned to a general sales tax as a way…

A key Texas Senate panel agreed Thursday to spend $9 billion on public education and property tax relief, matching the amount approved by the House hours earlier. The two spending plans differ on how to slice up that multi-billion-dollar pie, however.

Of all the places Gov. Greg Abbott might go for policy ideas, it’s hard to imagine a less likely place than California.  But the uber-expensive, highly-taxed, bluest-of-blue states may actually hold the answer to an issue Abbott called an “emergency” during his State of the State address.