When state lawmakers last year decided to kill a ballooning economic incentive program that had allowed some of the country’s biggest corporations to collectively avoid paying billions of dollars in school property taxes, it shocked even the program’s many critics.

The out-of-state manufacturer that was eyeing a project that would have brought 120 jobs to Marble Falls has moved on. Officials in the Hill County city west of Austin pin the blame on the state’s business personal property tax and its effect on smaller communities.

“Project Penguin” is dead. The Marble Falls Economic Development Corp. Board of Directors terminated a previous agreement with the anonymous manufacturer during its regular meeting Wednesday, June 1. The company, which would have brought 120 jobs to the area, opted out of the move due to the Texas tax system, said EDC Executive Director Christian Fletcher.

Billions of dollars in investment are being targeted at Central Texas. The projects all have something in common: They are seeking Chapter 313 incentives from local school districts. How does the program work, and why are we seeing so many applications all of a sudden?

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar is backing away from a proposal to reduce the information his office collects on the state’s largest corporate incentive program amid an avalanche of criticism from Texans concerned about the future cost to the state.