Public Finance

Gladys House, Fourth Ward activist pays her tax bill (swears revenge)

Last week, Gladys House had every reason to think she was about to see her property auctioned off for failure to pay her taxes, before someone swooped in to loan her the money. "I always felt like it was going to be all right. I just didn't know how it would happen," House said. Linebarger Gogga ... More >>

Yevette Walton & Lakisha Rogers: They Interview Tax Preparers Until They Find One Willing To File 53 Fake Returns

We don't know who first came up with the phrase "you can't get good help nowadays," but whoever did likely realized the importance of having a staffer interview someone before hiring. It's a valuable personnel lesson ingrained in Yevette Lauren Walton and Lakisha Lashell Rogers, but for all their p ... More >>

Fourth Ward Activist's Property to Be Auctioned Off Tuesday

Death and taxes are the only certainties in life, but in the case of Gladys House, the actual tax bill has been a question she's been wrestling with since the late 1990s. House is a longtime Fourth Ward activist and head of the Freedmen's Town Association who has fought for years to preserve the ... More >>

Shakedown: The HCAD Appraisal Game

HCAD fights owners of moderate housing for every single assessment penny. So why is it routinely handing out tax breaks worth several millions to big corporations?

Cover Story: HCAD Allegedly Running an "Enron Style" Scheme by Shifting the Property Tax Burden from the Rich to the Poor

In 2012, the Harris County Appraisal District valued Robert Mandala's modest Spring home at $59,500. The property-tax agent who represented Mandala said HCAD, while establishing a value, purposely ignored the lower priced homes in the neighborhood and grabbed sales numbers from the most expensive pr ... More >>

Vouchers on the Front Burner: New Texas Senate Education Committee Chair Talks "School Choice"

New Chair Dan Patrick is making his mark on the Senate Education Committee early, putting his goals for school choice front and center on his agenda. The clamor over school choice will likely drown out many of Patrick's other goals for the session: expanding career and technology courses; dropping ... More >>

The Ten Most Corrupt Tax Loopholes

If Mitt Romney won't tell you which need to be closed, we will.

5 Tips for Musicians to Avoid IRS Trouble

It's a fact of life that bears repeating: The IRS does not fuck around, no matter who you are. Legendary musician Chuck Berry received a reminder of this universal truth the hard way 33 years ago this month. Only three days after playing a gig on the White House lawn for President Jimmy Carter, the ... More >>

HISD Takes Another Run at Standardizing School-Day Start and End Times

Could be required reading in all of HISD next year.​Superintendent Terry Grier is making another run at cutting Houston ISD expenses by standardizing school schedules throughout the district, after last year's narrow rejection of the measure by board trustees. His administration says that by ... More >>

HISD: Searches For Ways To Stanch Bleeding Budget, Mentions Taxes

Photo by Mandy OaklanderPaula Harris helmed an emergency HISD meeting this morning.​This morning, an emergency meeting was called by HISD officials who are growing more desperate as severe budget cuts looms closer. About 10 parents sat in Pin Oak Middle School's cafeteria and listened to board ... More >>

Ron Paul: This Is Your Moment, The New York Times Says

Ron Paul's time to shine​The New York Times has officially announced it is time to stop laughing at Ron Paul, the Sage of Brazoria County, and pay attention to his vindication. The paper writes that Paul's detractors must eat crow now that the Tea Party and Libertarians have raised him up as ... More >>

Tea Party Congressmen From Texas Love Their Earmarks

Damn those earmarks!! Except mine​Brave, insightful, brilliant, not-at-all-crazy U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann founded the Congressional Tea Party Caucus to save America from Muslim presidents and stop federal spending by stopping earmarks, the modern term for pork-barrel projects. Republicans i ... More >>

Terry Grier Sticks HISD Principals With $19 Million Bill (Updated)

UPDATE: News flash from Houston ISD: Summer School will go on, just maybe not in the way it previously operated. And the $19 million shortfall may not be quite that high. See end of post. Photo by Margaret Downing Terry Grier: you're on your own, principals​Houston ISD principals are going ... More >>

Mario Gallegos Continues His Anti-Terry Grier Letter Writing Campaign

Gallegos is writing, but he's not hearing back from Grier​State Senator Mario Gallegos has continued to dictate letters since calling for Houston ISD superintendent Terry Grier to leave in an earlier letter, saying Grier was going to ruin the lives of students here.In his latest set of letters -- ... More >>

Blowing Smoke

Could Valero empty the coffers of Texas schools?

Frank Wilson Survival Watch, Day 3: Spanish Bombs

​How long will the embattled Metro president last? Hair Balls presents today's installment of the Frank Wilson Survival Watch. 1. The Federal Transit Administration sends Frank Wilson a damning letter. Dorval Carter, the FTA's chief counsel, alerted Wilson at the end of last week that the feds are ... More >>

HISD's Very Own Blackboard Jungle

​Fondren Middle School is "a blackboard jungle. The efforts that are required there are Herculean...The kids at Fondren have to learn how to come to school and where the school is located."Trustee Larry Marshall, not known for mincing words when he considers something unacceptable (famous Larr ... More >>

HISD Employs Shazam-You're-a-Magnet Strategy In Effort To Save Schools

Photo by Margaret Downing​Under a proposal unveiled today by Superintendent Terry Grier and his staff, Jones High School, for years now one of the most academically troubled schools in the Houston school district, will be turned into a science, technology, engineering and math magnet with a specia ... More >>

Fort Bend ISD Pulls Back From The Brink (A Little) With Its Expensive New Science Center

Illustration courtesy FBISD​We've noted before the Fort Bend school district's plans to build a very expensive but not overly needed "Science Center" that will take the place of all those labs in individual schools.The price tag is around $24 million, the plans are by an architectural firm that sp ... More >>

The City Of Houston Takes On Orbitz And Priceline

The City of Houston and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority are currently suing multiple travel websites such as Orbitz and Priceline over tax revenues it claims the sites owe it. Online travel sites pay wholesale prices to hotels for rooms and then customers book those rooms at a mark-up fro ... More >>

Finally, Someone Who Wasn't Bitching About The High Price Of Gas

Double-Wide Divide

Critics say Perry's turnpike plans will take a terrible toll on Texans

Tax Cuts for Some

Bugged about property taxes? Buy a skyscraper.

Moving Target

The city is rolling out the welcome mat for CITGO. But many workers want the company to get lost.

Bill's Bargain Tax Bill

The county says a candidate's home value is no White lie

Glass Houses

Mayoral candidate Michael Berry might want to vet his own supporters' bill-paying histories

Fine Arts Fallout

Will local groups get hammered by the post-terrorist hotel tax dive?

Close Quarters

Questions about conflicts of interest and motives cloud a $77 million city housing deal

Tax Rebate Waste?

Lest tax payers forget about the rebate, U.S. Rep John Culberson drives the message home with $36,000 worth of mailings

Beating the Bush

Take one tax rebate, a Houston man advises, and apply liberally

The Mod Squad

With Brown adrift, can this trio carry the ball?

Taxing Tales

Two trustees didn't pay their bills, even if HCCS wants yours to go higher

Tax Lean

Want a subsidy for your corporate expansion? Local governments are ready with millions in property-tax abatements -- and very little oversight.

Houston's Big Experiment

The city's first TIRZ set many precedents -- not all of them good

Zoned Out

An A.G.'s opinion only adds to the questions over Houston's special tax districts

Working Every Angle

The city of Houston is exploiting loopholes in state law to lavish big bucks on private developers

Dubious Deal

Special tax zones are already stimulating growth-a thriving cottage industry of attorneys, lobbyists, high paid consultants, developers and questionable financial projections

Landrush

The city of Houston is being carved into special taxing districts, promising windfalls for some, financial burdens for others

Campaign Appearances

For Bush, the legislative session shows it's better to look good than do good

Easygoing George W. Bush

With help from Democrats Pete Laney and Bob Bullock, Bush has been a Republican governor Texans love. But who'll be his pals if he sets his sights on the presidency?

No Relief in Sight

Traffic congestion will remain a problem for westside streets as the Westpark Tollroad and the HOV-lane projects are stalled

What a deal!

Joe Fuentes has no staff, no office, no documentation of the people he says he's helped, but hey, he's a good guy. Let's give him half a million dollars-plus.

The Mall That Ate Katy

Big money, big lobbyists, big tax breaks. The Mills Corporation is bringing one of its "megamalls" to Katy, and it's hardly business as usual in the little town on the prairie.

Sportin' Life

Archer's Way

Don't like the IRS? Neither does Bill Archer. And now the mild-mannered Houston congressman is pushing a radical plan to shut it down.

A Taxing Situation

What are the penalties in Harris County's tax collection deal with Heard, Goggan?

Term limits and a domineering mayor have combined to make the City Council little more than a rubber stamp. And Houston may pay dearly for that down the line.

Passing the Budget Buck

The hospital district gives the county $30 million, it gets a budget back. Good deal.

A Taxing Situation

When the tax assessor raises the value of one house on a block through the roof, the question is: Who's next?