{"id":4326,"date":"2013-12-27T02:18:42","date_gmt":"2013-12-27T02:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/?p=4326"},"modified":"2013-12-27T02:18:42","modified_gmt":"2013-12-27T02:18:42","slug":"why-not-put-income-tax-to-a-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=4326","title":{"rendered":"Why not put income tax to a vote?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n

This crazy idea has been rattling around in my skull for some time.<\/p>\n

It involves a state income tax for Texas. The idea is this: If Texas legislators are so sure-fire certain that a state income tax never would be approved by rank-and-file Texans, why don’t they just put the issue to a vote and let them decide this issue once and for all?<\/p>\n

My pal Enrique Rangel, writing for the Amarillo Globe-News, talked to some leading Texas pols recently to get their take on ways to improve the state’s rickety tax system. Tea party Republican comptroller candidate Debra Medina favors a consumption tax to pay for public education; state Sen. Bob Duncan, R-Lubbock, favors a statewide property tax to pay for schools; Fort Worth Democratic state Rep. Lon Burnam wants an income tax.<\/p>\n

Of the three ideas, I kind of like the idea of an income tax coupled with property tax relief.<\/p>\n

Here’s the problem with an income tax: It requires an amendment to the Texas Constitution, which requires a statewide popular vote.<\/p>\n

The Legislature, in a silly act of buck-passing, decided some years ago to require a constitutional amendment election, believing it didn’t have the votes in the body to approve an income tax by itself. Legislators figured that such a monumental decision needed voters’ stamp of approval.<\/p>\n

They knew all along Texans wouldn’t approve such a tax, even if it could be structured with a serious offset somewhere else, such as local property taxes.<\/p>\n

The state has been dancing all over this issue for as long as anyone can remember. Only lame-duck politicians — and a few active pols living in districts where they won’t be threatened with electoral defeat — have had the guts to talk openly about reforming the state tax system with an income tax.<\/p>\n

It’s an open secret that an income tax would enable the state to keep its public school system from courtroom fights when judges rule the financing system to violate the state’s Constitution.<\/p>\n

So, why not put the issue on the ballot. Burnam’s idea goes nowhere every time he pitches it to his legislative colleagues.<\/p>\n

If it’s such a bad idea that’ll never fly with voters, put it on the ballot and let’s decide it.<\/p>\n\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This crazy idea has been rattling around in my skull for some time. It involves a state income tax for Texas. The idea is this: If Texas legislators are so sure-fire certain that a state income tax never would be approved by rank-and-file Texans, why don’t they just put the issue to a vote and … Continue reading Why not put income tax to a vote?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[683,1300,2816,4596,4712],"class_list":["post-4326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bob-duncan","tag-debra-medina","tag-lon-burnam","tag-texas-constitution","tag-texas-state-income-tax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}