Subject: Tax Policy

• City Hall, Where No Does Not Mean No

  October 25, 2006

• Tom Leppert: Same As He Ever Was

  September 14, 2007

• Tom Leppert Keeps Delivering One Shocker After Another

  October 25, 2007

• Road Rage

  Homeowners in a Denton County neighborhood wage battle against "taxation without representation"

  March 22, 2001

• The Taxman Cometh

  The IRS delivers a slap to a dubious charity deal

  May 29, 2003

• The new voodoo

  January 5, 1995

• Rich man's Robin Hood

  November 30, 1995

• Get real

  December 4, 1997

• Bush's free ride

  October 29, 1998

• Easy pickings

  January 7, 1999

• Nothing ventured

  June 3, 1999

• Raise Taxes Now

  July 4, 2002

• Food For Thought 3.23.09

  "They gave PCA glowing reviews. The company was selected by PCA, paid by PCA and realized that if they didn't give PCA a glowing review, they were not going to get hired again." (Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat and chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on the value of private food inspection firms--in this case the nation's largest, American Institute of Baking International. Apparently the only company to find sanitary problems at Peanut Corporation

  March 23, 2009

• RIght Cross

  Is George W. Bush a conservative? Author Bruce Bartlett doesn't think so,

  and saying that cost him his job.

  February 16, 2006

• Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert Maintains His Lite-Rock Rhetoric

  September 13, 2007

• Judge 'Droid

  Wake him up and he votes

  August 30, 2007

• Spin Off

  August 10, 2006

• Sugar Ray

  Why council members love Mr. Hunt so much

  February 16, 2006

• Drunk Tellers

  Run down to the City Council Bank. They're giving money away!

  December 15, 2005

• Spike Dance

  The Hunt Oil people were shakin' their booties at City Hall last week

  October 27, 2005

• The Lone Ranger

  Right, but not quite right, Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher is reforming county government while infuriating her Republican colleagues

  October 20, 2005

• Mayorzilla

  Inside the monster battle over strong mayor

  April 7, 2005

• Helter Shelter

  The city's animal control efforts are running wild, but that's not the critters' fault. It's a people problem. The question now is, will Dallas residents pay to fix it?

  May 30, 2002

• Penny Stupid

  Taxes go up, services come down, and the billionaires stay happy

  August 24, 2000

• Taxing Situation

  A tax-protesting CEO enlists his employees in the cause

  August 10, 2000

• Busted

  Even in these boom times, Dallas is broke, thanks to a city council that has been giving away the store

  September 2, 1999

• The new Civil War

  Tax breaks for corporations are about to tear us in half

  December 28, 1995

• You Think Code Enforcement's "Poor" Now? Then Don't Look at the Proposed Budget.

  City of Dallas Code ComplianceEarlier this year, the city released the results of a community survey in which code enforcement ranked high on Dallas residents' list of priorities -- behind only public safety, infrastructure maintenance and health services. But the survey also revealed something else: A majority of those surveyed rank code enforcement as either "fair" (37 percent) or "poor" (23 percent) with only six percent of those asked giving it a score of "excellent." The only thing that sco

  May 19, 2009

• Council Doesn't Want to Raise Taxes, Cut Key Services to Trim Budget. Good Luck With That.

  Sam MertenThe city's budget is $190 million in the hole because of "revenue erosion," according to CFO Dave Cook.The Dallas City Council yesterday afternoon wrapped up a lengthy discussion on how best to tackle the city's $190-million budget deficit by agreeing that a tax increase and making cuts to the police and fire departments are not the answers. Council members opposed several of the proposed cuts by City Manager Mary Suhm and her staff, yet were unable to provide alternative solutions to

  May 21, 2009

• Harsh City Budget Cuts "Unavoidable" and Only "the Tip of the Iceberg"

  While we had Angela Hunt and council member-elect Ann Margolin on the phone yesterday, Unfair Park asked for their evaluations of the city's $190 million budget deficit. Hunt says right now it's hard to pinpoint the cut resulting in the biggest impact to residents because it's early in the process, and things are about to get worse before the council votes on a final budget in September. "We've only hit the tip of the iceberg of what we're cutting," she says. With approximately $1 billion in t

  June 12, 2009

• Rasansky Calls Budget "Non-Transparent," Says Increased Fees Are a Tax Increase and Introduces $21.7 Million in Savings

  Sam MertenMitchell Rasansky and Linda Koop celebrate the end of his eight years on the council and her birthday with glasses of grape cider. Rasansky later crushed the plastic glass with his foot and yelled, "Mazel tov!"City Manager Mary Suhm, Mayor Tom Leppert and CFO Dave Cook all stressed this morning that the city is facing the same budget challenges as other cities and states. As Cook briefed the city council for the last time before a more detailed budget is presented August 10, he said th

  June 17, 2009

• Dot Games Highlight Exercise in Futility at White Rock Lake Last Night as Residents Offer Little to Help Solve City's Budget Crisis

  Sam MertenYippee! Red and green stickers!It was standing room only last night as approximately 200 folks battled the heat at White Rock Lake's Winfrey Point for the final of four community budget forums, where several city staffers were on hand to get input on how best to address the city's $190 million budget shortfall. City Manager Mary Suhm, who has whittled the deficit down to $38.6 million, told Unfair Park after the meeting that the forums gave her a couple ideas to cut costs such as impl

  June 26, 2009

• Several Council Members Say That, You Know, a Teensy-Tiny Tax Hike Ain't a Bad Idea

  ​Speaking of the council and the budget and fees versus taxes ...As we mentioned yesterday, Tennell Atkins's budget amendment called for a 1-cent property tax increase -- which I didn't think would get terribly far, given council members, the mayor and the city manager's oft-repeated vows not to raise taxes despite the $190 million shortfall. But after Atkins made his presentation -- which, summed up, was, "It'll cost you $8 a year on a $100,000 house ... and I paid $9 to go to the movies" --

  September 16, 2009