Jose Navarro BalbuenaFor Texas Governor 2026 • Katy Mayor 2028
I am fighting on behalf of my tax bracket — families making under $100K from every walk of life across Texas. My National Centerpiece for IRS tax code reform is the Working-Class Standard Deduction ($100K–$175K). My Texas State Centerpiece is expanding Statewide Early College High Schools (ECHS) and the Texas Educator Masters Certification so teachers onboard to ECHS classrooms. We subsidize public education and offer schools tax exemptions—not Elon Musk, whose bootstraps are long enough to pull himself up. We are fighting to subsidize an $85K minimum salary for public educators, guarantee statewide subsidized farm-to-market hot school lunches, and put recreational adult THC on the ballot for Texas voters—dedicating 100% of THC sales tax solely to fund public education.
Working-Class Candidate"Self-educated Father, Renter, Small Business Owner, Tax Strategist, Systems Technical Engineer, and Licensed Insurance Agent."
Tangible legislative solutions engineered to elevate working-class families, protect small businesses, and revolutionize education. Explore each core initiative below.
"My Executive Blueprint: Pathway to Legislation aims to offer transparency on how we reverse unpopular laws by promoting change through executive action which leads to legislation. While my National Centerpiece for Federal IRS Tax Code Reform is the Working-Class Standard Deduction ($100K single / $150K HOH / $175K married, offset with a $150 flat tax fee on all Schedule C earned & unearned income, 1% rate up to $250K), my Texas State Centerpiece is expanding Early College High Schools (ECHS) statewide alongside the Texas Educator Masters Certification so teachers onboard directly to ECHS classrooms. We must subsidize public education and offer schools tax exemptions—not Elon Musk, whose bootstraps are long enough to pull himself up. We will subsidize an $85,000 minimum base salary for public educators, establish statewide subsidized farm-to-market hot school lunches, and put recreational adult THC on the ballot for Texas voters to decide, dedicating 100% of THC sales tax revenue solely and explicitly to fund Texas public schools."
— Jose Navarro Balbuena, Community Impact & State Offices QuestionnaireI am The StandardDeduction.net Candidate, and as a working-class tax strategist, I see firsthand how the current code punishes the people who build this country. We need a system that rewards hustle, protects families, and fuels the American Dream. We advocate for a historic standard deduction of $100,000 for single filers, $150,000 for head of household, and $175,000 for married couples, paired with a marginal tax rate reduction down to 1% under $250,000 and a 3% homestead property tax circuit breaker.
Our Texas State Centerpiece breaks the predatory college debt trap by expanding Early College High Schools (ECHS) statewide so every public high school student graduates with an Associate Degree in Science, Arts, or Applied Science (60 college credit hours) tuition-free. We establish the Texas Educator Masters Certification providing state-funded graduate tuition and stipends for teachers onboarding to ECHS instruction. We subsidize public education and offer schools tax exemptions—not Elon Musk, whose bootstraps are long enough to pull himself up. We work towards a subsidized $85,000 minimum base salary for public educators, backed by a voter ballot referendum dedicating 100% of recreational THC sales tax solely and explicitly to Texas public schools.
Families save an average of $35,000 to $75,000 in university tuition and room/board while students earn 60 transferable college credits tuition-free.
Put adult-use THC on the ballot for Texas voters; dedicate 100% of sales tax solely to ECHS credits, farm lunches, $85k teacher salaries & Masters certs; $150 flat licenses.
State-funded graduate tuition & stipends for teachers onboarding to ECHS; subsidize public schools instead of giving tax abatements to Elon Musk.
Inspired by my mother’s lifelong career as a public school cafeteria cashier, this initiative creates a statewide subsidized farm-to-market model linking Texas agricultural producers directly to school cafeterias—abolishing lunch-shaming, eliminating processed foods, and backed by the voter-approved THC school funding referendum.
Redirecting state nutrition procurement away from multinational processors straight into Texas family farms.
Free, hot, nutrient-dense scratch-cooked breakfast and lunch for every Texas public school student regardless of income.
100% of voter-approved THC sales tax revenues dedicated directly to subsidizing scratch-cooked farm meals and school operations.
Texas workers cannot survive on $7.25 an hour, yet mom-and-pop shops cannot absorb sudden, unfunded wage spikes and payroll tax burdens alone. My platform establishes the Texas Co-Funded Apprenticeship & Livable Wage Partnership: an 18-month runway where the State provides an indirect subsidy of $7.50/hour deposited directly to the worker via the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Trust Fund, paired with an employer contribution of $7.50/hour, legally guaranteeing a $15.00/hour living wage floor. For the first 12 months, TWC pays and directly files all employer payroll taxes (FICA, FUTA, SUTA), followed by guided employer training in Months 13–18 and permanent free lifetime digital platform access. Strict statutory anti-fraud guardrails legally bar members of the employer's tax household—stopping business owners from offloading taxable income onto non-working relatives or exploiting minor child statutory FICA exemptions.
State indirect subsidy ($7.50) deposits directly to the worker's account to eliminate wage theft; employer pays matching $7.50 to TWC Trust Fund for guaranteed $15/hr.
For months 1–12, TWC pays employer FICA (7.65%), FUTA, and SUTA, directly preparing and filing all IRS 941/940 & state reports. Zero software overhead.
TWC trains employers during Months 13–18 to manage payroll taxes, granting permanent 100% free lifetime access to the state digital filing portal for all future hires.
Members of the employer's tax household (spouses & FICA-exempt minor children) do not qualify. Prevents fraud, phantom payroll, and income off-loading.
Replacing fear with verified due process. Partnering with foreign consulates to verify identity and issue Texas Provisional IDs linked to ITINs. Lowers auto insurance premiums for all Texas drivers and brings workers into the formal banking system.
Texans will no longer rent the picket fence dream. Greg Abbott has sold away the picket fence dream to corporations. We ban corporate 1-4 home buys, mandate corporate divestment, abolish HOA foreclosures, fast-track builder permits, and launch a Verified Renter Registry with binding 24-48h repair SLAs.
State-level TCOLE partnership integrated directly with local Neighborhood Watch programs, providing accredited community safety training, standardized de-escalation certifications, and direct verified dispatch links with municipal police and county sheriffs.
Deploying remote live telemetry monitoring on dams, levees, and critical ERCOT grid points with National Guard logistics. Enforcing strict Service Level Agreements with non-negotiable financial penalties on utilities for outages.
Authored by a licensed health insurance agent: Outlaw surprise medical bills across ER and hospital visits, mandate insurance cover doctor-prescribed medicine, cap insulin at $25/mo and inhalers at $30/mo, require tandem non-dependency drug production, and expand Medicaid/Medicare funded by billionaire FICA reform.
Actively screening with grassroots democratic and labor organizations across Texas.
I am not a career politician financed by Austin PACs and corporate lobbyists. I am a hands-on tax strategist, systems technical engineer, licensed insurance agent, notary public, presiding elections judge, and certified Volunteer Deputy Registrar (VDR) living right here in Katy, Texas.
Having run an independent grassroots congressional campaign in 2024 across Texas District 22, I experienced firsthand the structural barriers entrenched parties place against working-class candidates. My mission is to bring transparent municipal management to Katy in 2028 and executive transformation to the Texas Governor's mansion in 2026.
Take 30 seconds to sign our citizen petition or register as a precinct volunteer in your neighborhood.
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