Earlier this year, a bipartisan coalition of Texas lawmakers declined to renew the state’s controversial Chapter 313 subsidy program, which was costing the state billions of dollars in property taxes that would have otherwise gone to local school districts.
Recently, the Texas Comptroller published proposed changes to the way his office would collect information about more than $10 billion worth of outstanding Chapter 313 subsidies over the next decade. The CEA’s review of the proposed changes raised concerns that they would decrease transparency and accountability around a program that had already proven to be such a bad idea that the state’s legislators decided to end it. Today, we submitted public comment to that effect: