The Texas Legislature adjourned sine die this afternoon, formally ending the 7th special session in two and a half years. And this time, it looks like they won’t be coming back for an 8th.
The Legislature achieved its stated goals for the session. It reduced property taxes by a third while providing local school districts with meaningful discretion to set tax rates, an important feature designed to comply with the Supreme Court’s school finance decision. It replaced the unfair corporate franchise tax with a broader (and lower) margins tax, which spreads the tax burden across more businesses than the previous business tax. It also increased taxes on most tobacco products — not cigars! — and on used vehicles sold through private transactions not involving a dealer.
It has been a very busy month with the Legislature in town. Now, finally, there will be an interim without the specter of another special session. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court tosses out those new congressional districts ….

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