Latino economic disparities cut across wages and benefits, median income, home ownership, debts, and savings. Their middle class and wealth-building status affect choices to strengthen family bienestar (well-being), civic involvement to gain political power and policy influence, and structural changes needed.
The people and vital services least able to handle increased costs for food, gas, housing, and utilities are the ones least likely to benefit from inflation-related adjustments. Yet, the Texas Senate Finance charged with examining Texans’ current tax exemptions and whether adjustments are merited because of inflation are looking for more ways to keep businesses […]
Texas needs a Latino-focused Think Tank. It is confounding and disconcerting that none currently exist. Preferably, the Think Tank should be an independent non-institutional organization that can contribute to critical policy dialogue and a catalyst to impact public and private policymaking.
Latinos are a diverse population that also encompass their respective achievement of social and economic progress across the states’ 12 distinct economic regions. The authors argued that much more progressive policies are needed than even before the Covid-19 pandemic. That Latino political engagement and messaging must increase to influence policymaking.
Texas’ ideology to accommodate the tax policy needs of the corporate sector while limiting human capital investments (e.g., education, health, housing, economic development) that equalize opportunities for economic mobility are legendary. The state’s regressive tax structure is a core pilar of this ideology where Latino and Black households are inequitably impacted. They pay more than […]
Political pundits have tried to make sense of the disappointing 2020 outcome in Texas for those of us who have wanted to see the state turn blue. In this essay, I provide my analysis of what happened, the challenges that we face, and the opportunities that we have in turning Texas blue….
Immigrants are a vital part of Texas’ economy. Their consumer spending power totaled 120.3 billion dollars, and they paid $40.6 billion dollars in local, state, and federal taxes. They are significant economic contributors to every Congressional District….
More than 100,000 Latinos have now lost their lives to COVID-19. This past week we went over this lamentable threshold. It took about ten months for 50,000 Latinos to die from the pandemic, but it only took four months to add another 50,000. More than 29,000 Latinos have died in California and more than 23,000 […]
The 3rd Texas Latino Policy Symposium (TXLPS III) urged local and state Covid-19 recovery support and structural policymaking change. Covid-19 further exposed Texas’s inadequate and unequal investments in education, employment, housing, health care, and economic development.
The coronavirus pandemic has rocked our world, completely changing our lives and our routines. It is a significant threat to Latinos’ 2020 census response and outreach efforts. Money and political power are at stake. Texas community outreach strategies are already challenged by President Trump’s administration discriminatory and inhumane policies directed at immigrants, and the state’s […]