Maximum Compressed Tax Rate
This is an incredibly important concept yet it is almost never spoken about by our so-called “leaders”. This rate is the maximum rate allowable by law without a vote. This rate is set by Texas Education Agency. If you want to dig, you can find the complete basis therefore here:
The documentation is effectively page-after-page of dense legalese. The important parts follow, and as always, a fact checker need only read the links provided to verify what is written herein.
First and foremost, this tax rate does not directly govern the tax rate in any school district. What it does is allow the bureaucratic regime known as TEA to near-silently raise taxes without input from the public. The process is devoid of mandatory inputs and hearings before the voting class. The broad strokes are:
School Districts inform TEA of taxable property data end of July
TEA computes a rate
School Districts may appeal the rate
Once a rate is settled a School District is able to raise taxes to that new rate without a vote
If the MCR for a district is computed to be less than 90% of the greatest school district in the State, that MCR is increased to equal 90% of the greatest.
The TEA Commissioner can ignore the rules however and whenever he wants
That is not a typo: the rules states, “The commissioner of education may waive a provision of this section if necessary to ensure the appropriate MCR calculation.” (See Commissioner’s Rules on School Finance). Effectively, we have a system where school taxes can be artificially inflated through willful ignorance of the rules. The rules state both: that a district must inform TEA of taxable property data and that the Commissioner may waive a rule to expedite the calculation process.
These tax rate increases are given irrespective of outcomes and irrespective of performance. Further, a Voter Approval Tax Rate Election is only necessary if a District would like to increase past this MCR. This is a slight of hand; it is a way for unelected bureaucrats to get a tax rate increase while keeping people feeling like they “won something”. If a District wants to adopt the MCR, it only needs to propose a rate higher than the MCR and let the voters select the MCR instead. Voters feel like they won, and the District gets its pay increase. Everyone’s happy??? Right?
The media, too, are not our friends in this struggle to keep what we earn. The media loves the phrase “increasing district revenue” when they mean “siphoning hard-earned money from the public”. Do not be fooled; we are moving backward into a pseudo-slavery situation as a society.
Slavery is a process whereby the people do the work, and the spoils go to the intelligencia and the gentry. In slavery, the keepers of the spoils tell the slaves that all needs have been met, so none should be upset. This is the picture of taxation albeit more extreme. Taxation is a process whereby the people do the work, and a portion of the spoils go to the intelligencia and the gentry. In taxation, the media in conjunction with the intelligencia and gentry tell the public that we have roads, parks, and schools, so none should be upset. How does paying a superintendent 10 times what a teacher makes helping anyone? How does inflating bureaucrats’ salaries artificially while children continue to underperform in reading and mathematics help anyone?
The picture painted by the MCR is not a good one. It reaks of bureaucratic self-aggrandizement and voter ignorance. Get informed, get out, and get voting. Our salaries, lives, and children’s futures depend upon it.
Contract With Texas
This is one of the most important movements in Texas at present. It is effectively asking our Republican political candidates to pledge they will do their jobs. We all know they have not been doing their jobs. We can all feel the weight of their failure to perform. It is common sense they should be doing better, but they overwhelmingly do not pledge to do better.
A full list of signatories and abstainers can be found on the website. We can see why failing to sign would send a powerful, anti-liberty, anti-grassroots message upon inspection:
Only solicit support for Speakership from Republican members
End the practice of awarding Democrats with committee chairmanships
Ensure all GOP legislative priorities receive a floor vote before any Democrat bills
Replace the current liberal Parliamentarians with staff committed to only offering advice on adherence to House rules, not to advancing their personal ideology
Limit the Speaker to two terms to reduce their power over individual members
Ensure there are no longer any Democrat-majority committees
Stop parliamentary abuse by requiring only substantial adherence to House rules to keep hyper-technical points of order from killing good legislation
Allow audio/video recording of all House proceedings, including point of order debates
Start substantive work as soon as Session begins to end delays that kill priority legislation
Reform the Calendars Committee to increase transparency and accountability
Select a Republican as Speaker Pro Tempore
Decentralize power by prohibiting the distribution of political funds from the Speaker.
If you ran on the Republican ticket, you were, through Freedom of Association, endowed with the ability to do so by your Republican constituency. This implies you are accountable to the Republicans who put you in that position. you are not accountable to the Governor of TX; you are not accountable to the President of these United States. You are accountable to We, the People. Things do not work backward here; we are not Democrats. We do not worship Government. We do not wait for Government to fix our problems. We do not kow tow to the current order. This was made clear the last round of primaries where 15 incumbents lost their seats.
If you do not represent our values, we will remove you from the ticket. This is plain, simple, easy, and understandable.
Texas is the Alamo in this Country
This is a quote from David Stein. He is running for Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Texas, and I had the privilege of being part of a discussion with him this past Friday morning. The fact that he opened his calendar for us, delegates, to get to know him shows the level of responsibility with which he would take the mantle if elected.
This statement directly falls in line with one of my Pillars of Service: Texas Leads. This is the last stand our nation makes for freedom within this Republic. Our border is embattled by threats both foreign and domestic. We face a foreign invasion from numerous nations across the globe, and we face a Civil invasion from our Federal Government. These are both as a result of our Federal Government abdicating its resposibilities under the Biden Administration.
Article IV, Section 4 of the US Constitution guarantees us a Republican form of Government and protection against invasion. The Biden Administration has failed in its duty to hold up its end of the bargain and has further litigated this State against our own right to secure our own border. While we wait for the wheels of justice to turn as they will, our border is falling as did the stand at the Alamo.
This failed border has caused Texas to call out to our fellows. Some have responded to the call; others have refused the call. All manner of illegal immigrant has been cast to every corner of this great nation, and the nation has begun to awaken when directly confronted with what must be done.
Not all immigrants are bad. I am a fan of immigration and work with thousands of people who came from outside this nation in search of a better life. This being said, the fact of the matter is that people crossing our border unvetted and uncontrolled has a negative effect on everyone within these United States.
Some sanctuary cities, like Denver, are turning immigrants away having run out of resources, telling them to seek refuge in a different city. Some cities, like Chicago, are facing potential recall elections and other civil issues due to the expenses lost to the taxpayers thereof. Some cities, like Athens, have lost lives later finding out the murderers had been arrested and deported for violent crimes in the past.
Again, not all immigrants are bad; however, the sting of these incidents is being felt by those law-abiding citizens and immigrants alike who are legally here, pay their taxes, and go about daily life the legal way. As the Texas border falls, the rest of the nation weeps for the loss and comes to our aid. This was so at the time the Alamo fell, and it shall be so this year as our border’s invasion continues.