[Excerpt]
A surprising legislative success in 2021 is on track to be undone in 2023, unless a grass roots left-right coalition can block legislation and the forces behind it that are trying to go backward....
In the name of jobs and economic development, a 2012 tax code trick called Chapter 313 essentially funneled state money, via school district property tax breaks, to private companies doing new industrial construction. The school districts that granted tax breaks under Chapter 313 were reimbursed — and many still are being reimbursed — by the state, meaning we as taxpayers reimbursed them. It was the ultimate insider game of channeling public benefit to private companies.
In San Antonio, Mike Phillips is a COPS/Metro leader, a member of the Texas IAF. His organization and others rallied in Austin on March 21 to call attention to the inequities that school district tax breaks cause statewide.
“This is money that could instead be going to public schools. We are working this session with legislators from both parties and a range of allies to oppose taxpayer-funded corporate giveaway programs that involve school finance and school district decision-making,” Phillips said.
“This is money that could instead be going to public schools. We are working this session with legislators from both parties and a range of allies to oppose taxpayer-funded corporate giveaway programs that involve school finance and school district decision-making,” Phillips said.
Taylor: Like a Zombie, Texas Corporate Welfare Threatens to Rise from Its Grave to Plague Taxpayers, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]
Chapter 313 "Vampire Fund" Opponents Rally in Austin, Austin Journal [pdf]
Texas' Zombie Tax Break Is Baaa-aaack. But Is Chapter 313 Any Better? Houston Chronicle [pdf]
Valley Interfaith: Don't Suck Money Out of Public Education to Help Large Corporations, Rio Grande Guardian [audio]
Press Conference Footage, Texas IAF [video]
Death of a Vampire, Texas IAF [video]