Austin [Texas] Skirting Sanctuary City Law

Empower Texans ^ | June 21, 2018 | Cary Cheshire

[JeepersFreepers]

Texas’ capital city is once again thumbing its nose at the state government, this time by defying Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Legislature’s recently passed ban on sanctuary cities.

Last week, the Austin City Council unanimously approved a pair of “Freedom City” resolutions that target racial disparity in Austin Police Department arrests and how police officers are to react to illegal immigrants.

While the first is largely eye-roll worthy (par for the course as far as Austin City Council resolutions go), it does instruct officers to refrain from arresting minority individuals for “low-level offenses” such as smoking marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and minor larceny.

According to city data, those crimes frequently end in arrest for black and Latino residents. Austin’s openly Socialist city councilman, Greg Casar, said tamping down on the arrests and ignoring the crimes could result in fewer illegal immigrants being apprehended and thus deported.

“Poor people of color in our city are over-punished and over-incarcerated,” said Casar, who pushed for the resolutions. “If people are being arrested less, we can also prevent people from being put in the deportation pipeline.”

The second asks APD leaders to skeptically scrutinize requests for assistance by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It also asks officers inquiring as to the immigration status of an individual to inform them they have a constitutional right to remain silent.

On passage of the pair of resolutions, Casar declared the effort an “important win for racial justice and immigrant rights in Texas.”

They’re likewise major losses for taxpayers, citizen safety, and the rule of law.

Both matters are likely to elicit review by the Texas Legislature when it reconvenes next year—the latest problematic examples of the need for a statewide pre-emption law to reign in rogue city governments in open defiance of state law.

And speaking of open defiance of state law, Austin is also currently leading a number of other cities in suing the State of Texas to prevent the implementation of Senate Bill 4, the ban on sanctuary cities signed by Gov. Greg Abbott last summer. Judges have left the law in place while the legal question is decided.

[Blue House Sue]

“There were exactly 50% of the homes on our street up for sale a couple years ago thanks to high taxes. “

In my neighborhood, houses stay on the market for a day or two and sell for 10-20% over the asking price.

[fwdude]

This piece reads as satire, although I know it’s not.

[cherry]

if people commit crimes, they need to do the time....

no exceptions...

[Old Yeller]

Autism, Texas

[Milton Miteybad]

Austin’s “tax base,” such as it is, consists mainly of real estate owned by the State of Texas, and which is consequently off the tax rolls, yield zero tax revenue. In other words, Austin’s “tax base” is negligible. But the exaggerated sense of self-importance of Austinites, of course, is legendary.

[Mastador1]

I foresee some substantial taxpayer payouts if any of the Austin police arrest a non 'minority' for any of those minor, in their opinion, infractions.

Shit, I might just take a trip to Austin and take up toking and petty larceny. My bank accounts just not where I want it to be.

[tbw2]

Libs may learn that cities supporting school prayer or are anti-abortion could also become ‘sanctuaries’

[Windflier]

Crap like this will not stop until people start going to jail.

Are you listening, Governor Abbot?

[Blue House Sue]

“Austin’s “tax base,” such as it is, consists mainly of real estate owned by the State of Texas, and which is consequently off the tax rolls, yield zero tax revenue. In other words, Austin’s “tax base” is negligible.”

Tough to say Austin’s tax base is negligible when its taxpayers contribute more money to the state school fund than any other city.

[Milton Miteybad]

Tough to say Austin’s tax base is negligible when its taxpayers contribute more money to the state school fund than any other city.

Right. Prove it.

[Blue House Sue]

From Empower Texas.

The very same news source that wrote the piece featured on this thread.

“WHICH TEXANS PAID THE BIGGEST “ROBIN HOOD” TAX IN 2018?”

https://empowertexans.com/features/which-texans-paid-the-biggest-robin-hood-tax-in-2018/

[Milton Miteybad]

Interesting. But those figures don't really address the size of the respective tax bases, as the term is commonly understood.

The tax base for a taxing entity, of course, is how much taxable property there is within the boundaries of the jurisdiction. In this case, we'll compare the tax bases of the Houston ISD and the Austin ISD, using 2017 figures, which are found here:

Tax Rates and Levies

As you can see from the data, HISD's tax base is $2.029 billion, dwarfing that of AISD, at a mere $1.312 billion.

The reason AISD taxpayers end up paying into the Robin Hood fund to the extent the do, of course, is that their taxpayers are wildly overassessed and overtaxed relative to the number of students in the district. AISD had 83,000 (+/-) students enrolled in 2016, while HISD had roughly 215,000 (+/-) that same year. You can find that data here:

2016 Snapshot - 50,000 Student and Above

As AISD is a school district with almost no students, it would appear that AISD's contributions to the Robin Hood fund are attributable mostly to poor management and/or avarice on the part of AISD trustees, coupled with the general lack of awareness on the part of AISD property owners as to whether they are being overtaxed relative to the actual number of students in their district.

Anyway...I'm happy to have been of assistance in clearing up any misunderstanding on your part relating to the concept of tax bases. It was clear that you were having some trouble with the concept.

And by the way, if I were a taxpayer in Travis County, I'd be preparing to place some heads on pikes, after learning what I had this evening. No doubt you must feel the same way.