Episode 4035: More property tax “rate” deception | Another Texas hurdle for computing investment – Pratt on Texas 8/3/2026

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: Once again, as bad as Laredo’s, we get county leadership and media engaging in deception on property tax “rate” setting designed to make voters think local politicians have not been raising their property taxes. This time it’s from KWTX and McLennan County leadership: McLennan County proposes first property tax rate increase in years, citing public safety and rising costs.For the 10,000th time: Talking about a “tax rate” for the coming year in comparison to a previous year’s “tax rate” is meaningless. The new rate only has meaning when compared to the No New Revenue Tax Rate, formerly the Effective Tax Rate. Learn more here. Learn a lot more here.Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Texas has a new Comptroller of Public Accounts as Don Huffines took office on Saturday. Hopefully Huffines will put pressure on local governments to stop lying about tax rates in relation to tax increases or decreases.In what reminds me of California a few decades ago, due to political pressure from afraid of growth and investment people, Governor Abbott has put up yet another hurdle in front of investment in Texas to build computing centers. It may just be reporting but it raises the cost of investing in Texas and does not fit the Texas Miracle model.Austin could gain 40,000 aerospace and defense jobs in coming years. This is a very good story and is mostly focused on space focused industry.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.  www.PrattonTexas.com