Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Life:Powered Director Jason Isaac and Every Texan Legislative & Policy Director Luis Figueroa released the following statement:
“In May, our disparate organizations found common cause in opposing the extension of the wasteful Chapter 313 program of school property tax abatements. We are coming together again to oppose the Comptroller’s proposal to radically reduce the transparency of this program.
“As the Comptroller’s own website states: ‘Meaningful transparency leads to greater accountability.’ Although Chapter 313 will expire at the end of 2022, the enormous costs of agreements signed before that date, and their effect on our communities, will continue for decades.
“Shockingly, the Comptroller now proposes to drastically reduce the information collected from beneficiary companies. Instead, companies will report only the actual data for the past two years, eliminating all other historical reporting and projections of future property values, the amount of tax revenue forgone by schools, and payments to school districts. In addition, job creation and wage data that is currently collected by school districts, then forwarded to the Comptroller for posting on the state’s website, would be retained by the district and not posted.
“Texans need to know what we are getting for our dollars. To ensure accountability for the tens of billions of dollars that Chapter 313 will cost in the future, the Comptroller must withdraw his proposed rule change and maintain, or even improve, the transparency of the Chapter 313 program.”