Conservative, Progressive Debate Texas Budget Shortfall
While the right and left don't agree on much, both sides stipulate that the state's budget mess is a multibillion-dollar problem. In the debut of our new video series, the executive director of the progressive Center for Public Policy Priorities, former state district judge Scott McCown, and the director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, former state Rep. Talmadge Heflin, debate the best way to dig us out of the hole — and how we got into it in the first place.
Comments (3)
Phillip Martin
In 2007, before State Rep. Patrick Rose's Health and Human Services Committee hearing about CHIP, Talmadge Heflin testified that the state saves more money by having children go to the emergency room for care than for the state to invest money in CHIP.
Just like to throw that out there, as people watch the video.
/Love the Face-off format!
JJ Baskin
Wow, Hu gets married and ups her game even more. This is AWESOME. Talk about civil discourse.
Thank you!
IndyTexan
No offense, but this debate is stale. Five years ago the Texas Appraisal District Association released a study showing that across the state large-scale commercial developments and speculative raw land is under-valued by an average of 40%. This is billions (that's not a typo) of dollars in uncollected property taxes. Meanwhile, all these dudes can talk about is cutting social services or raising taxes!
Rick Perry's indecent decision to live in a $10,000 mansion while the Governor's mansion is rehabbed, is small potatoes, but is an indication of the incredible arrogance and corruption that runs this state. The Democrats are culpable -- they have their own set of ties to the same forces.
Texans need to stop fighting amongst each other over who's a liberal and who's a real conservative and throw all these bums out before we're bankrupt and without the real gold - water.