Texas is planning to make a huge public investment in space

"Further investment will cement Texas as the preeminent location for innovation."

See full article...

 

[FreeRangeOrganicSoyLatteCappuccino]

From the article:
Texas has a historic budget surplus this year due to oil prices, inflation, and other factors driving economic growth. The state is projected to have $188.2 billion available in general revenue for funding the business of the state over the 2024–2025 period, a surplus of $32.7 billion over spending during the previous two years.


If that is true then why is our school district short on money:



https://communityimpact.com/houston.../fort-bend-isd-considers-budget-cuts-in-2023/
Also:

http://www.brb.state.tx.us/state_debt.aspx

The government shouldn't go out and find new uses for these new tax dollars, it should pay of it's debt and help out the local governments.

/rant

FBISD is short on money because the local voters held an election and voted down proposed new bonds.

That had nothing to do with the state government.

You want to blame anyone, blame your neighbors.

 

[FreeRangeOrganicSoyLatteCappuccino]

If your are rich enough to have that luxury. If you make minimum wage and all of your income is spent on rent, food, and transportation, you can't pay less in sales taxes. You can't save what isn't left and you get taxed at a higher rate than those who make more and have the luxury of choosing the "cheaper option".

Which is true of nearly any tax system.

 

[FreeRangeOrganicSoyLatteCappuccino]

Wait, what? I was completely unaware that there existed places where real estate transactions were not public records. Are there other states like this?

Real estate transactions in Texas are completely public. You can look up the estimated value of any property online.

And the values go up and down with the market. So Texas tax revenues are doing well this year, but may plummet next year (as happened with California).

 

[FreeRangeOrganicSoyLatteCappuccino]

Uh-uh-uh: You can look up what the county assessor's office thinks it is worth. You cannot look up how much anyone ever actually paid for it.

When there is an actual sale, the value of the property is automatically updated to that sale price. If a property isn't sold for years, then the assessed value of the property will be changed based upon the more recent sale of properties around it.

So yes, it's what the county assessor thinks the value is worth. But each property owner also has the ability to appeal any increase in property value/tax, once every few years.

Anyhow, point being, it's all pretty public information.

 

[FreeRangeOrganicSoyLatteCappuccino]

Small government, rugged individualist Texas throws billions of taxpayer money at the space industry. Communist California spends no taxpayer money and relies on private capital to be the nations space industry leader.

The political narratives we buy into in this country are so unbearably fucked up.

Your statement is obviously and easily proven to be wrong.

Source: https://business.ca.gov/californias...-office-of-business-and-economic-development/

"California is pleased to provide significant financial incentives to business leaders as well. Since 2019, aerospace businesses have received almost $200 million in tax credits and grants from GO-flagship Biz’s investment program, CalCompetes."

 

[FreeRangeOrganicSoyLatteCappuccino]

Sure it did. Yes, Fort Bend is the wealthiest county in Texas. But the state provides about 40% of public school funding, and mandates “recapture” to fund poorer districts from richer ones’ property taxes. Many districts do turn to bonds, in addition to the property tax (which the state caps), as the bonds are not subject to recapture.

Even rich districts are underfunded, but unlike Fort Bend, Austin ISD passed its bonds while dropping property taxes. Rural counties are hurt even more by the constant state-level attacks on the public school budget, so hopefully they get the legislature to back off on school vouchers this year (call your rep if you’re in Texas).

Fort Bend isn't even in the top 10 wealthiest counties in Texas.