How to Boost Funding to Public Education
The Texas public school finance system is due for some renovations. And we need raw material to get the job done. As the Texas Public
Dick Lavine
April 23, 2018
Dick Lavine, Senior Fiscal Analyst
Dick Lavine focuses on building state and local revenue systems that meet Texans’ needs. Before coming to Every Texan in 1994, he was a Senior Researcher at the House Research Organization of the Texas House of Representatives for ten years. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Trustee of the City of Austin Employees Retirement System. He served for many years as a member and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Travis Central Appraisal District. He is also a member of the Executive Board of AFSCME Texas Retirees, the statewide union local of retired public employees, and the Board of Directors of Progress Texas Institute, a progressive media organization. The Equity Center named him as a Champion for Equity for his work to reform our tax system to ensure it can adequately support public education and other public services. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, magna cum laude, from Harvard College in 1969, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975.
Dick's Recent Work
Why Raising the Sales Tax Won’t Lower Your Property Taxes
Lawmakers at the Capitol have been pushing an extremely dangerous idea for some time now that would replace property taxes with higher sales taxes in
Dick Lavine
April 5, 2018
How the Federal Tax Bill Threatens State and Local Public Services
The tax bill currently making its way through Congress would make it more difficult for Texas and our local governments to provide the public services
Dick Lavine
December 6, 2017
U.S. Senate Tax Plan is a Giveaway to Wealthy Families and Corporations
Like the House’s tax proposal, the U.S. Senate plan released this week would give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts to wealthy households
Dick Lavine
November 10, 2017
New Property Tax Bill, Same Fuzzy Math: An Update
This Saturday the Texas House will take up Senate Bill 1, a dangerous bill that would limit the ability of local governments to raise the
Dick Lavine
August 10, 2017
New Property Tax Bill, Same Fuzzy Math
This post was updated on July 31, 2017. The Senate last week passed Senate Bill 1 by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a dangerous bill that would
Dick Lavine
July 20, 2017
Concerned About Property Taxes?
Increase state support to public schools. The Texas Legislature is again threatening to interfere with local communities by limiting the ability of local governments to
Dick Lavine
July 18, 2017
Misguided Senate Bill 2 Could Tie Hands of Cities and Counties
This post was updated on 5/17/17. Texas local governments – cities, counties, community colleges and hospital districts – provide vital services to their constituents. Locally
Dick Lavine
May 9, 2017
Let’s Go Back to the Future
Why talk about the 2020-21 Texas state budget when lawmakers are still deciding the 2018-19 budget? It’s because the decisions our state leaders make now
Dick Lavine
May 3, 2017
The Texas Legislature: A Lesson in How Not to Learn a Lesson
You would think that, having just written proposed state budgets that would underfund or cut health care, financial aid, and more, the Texas Legislature would
Dick Lavine
April 24, 2017