Evil is creeping in Texas... Property taxes are high

Quote from Covertibility:

Capping taxes sounds like a gimmick. If I'm a state and I cap property taxes, I can still increase spending by relying on increases in the revenue from income taxes and fees to have a balanced budget. When a recession hits, the revenue from income and fees will disappear but the spending will still be there. Voila, deficit.

This is why ya need a cap on spending, say capped at the rate of inflation and suspend the cap in times of an emergency.
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Except my proposal is specific to Texas. There is no income taxes and certainly no municipal levy of income taxes.

Capping property taxes keeps municipalities from getting too greedy and bloated and will force them to cut budgets when the times are rough. All good things.
 
Quote from bond_trad3r:

Except my proposal is specific to Texas. There is no income taxes and certainly no municipal levy of income taxes.

Capping property taxes keeps municipalities from getting too greedy and bloated and will force them to cut budgets when the times are rough. All good things.
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Agreed. Bond...you live in Texas I assume?

I still need to know what is being proposed here.
 
I'm advocating a number of things.

1) Targeted cuts to state departments and programs. A total of $15 billion is proposed to be cut to balance the budget. Take a page from Florida's Rick Scott and reevaluate State priorities and agency missions. Don't just do across the board cuts, but targeted cuts of whole programs. I for one would want to see the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission be zeroed out. Let the counties take on this responsibility if they want to waste their money on it.

2) Route the money cut from the State budget to municipalities and school boards with the condition that they decrease their property tax rates. I am of the belief it is the local level which provides the most value for government services.

3) I don't know how many times I see a massive high school campus or city hall or county court house. Municipalities were too greedy in the boom and are bloated. Limit their revenue though millage caps and homestead exemptions to force them to be modest and cut their budgets when times are bad.
 
#1 is key.

Reevaluate what the state agencies do and cut their funding. Below is an incomplete list from wikipedia:

Brazos River Authority
Canadian River Compact Commissioner for Texas
Edwards Aquifer Authority
Employees Retirement System of Texas
Executive Council of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Examiners of Texas
Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority
Lower Colorado River Authority
Office of Rural Community Affairs
Office of the Fire Fighters' Pension Commissioner of Texas
Office of the Governor of Texas - Commission on Women
Office of the Governor of Texas - Committee on People with Disabilities
Office of the Governor of Texas
Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Texas
Office of the Public Utility Counsel of Texas
Pecos River Compact Commissioner for Texas
Red River Compact Commissioners for Texas
Rio Grande Compact Commissioners for Texas
Sabine River Authority
Sabine River Compact Commissioners for Texas
State Bar of Texas
State Preservation Board of Texas
Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Texas Adjutant General's Department
Texas Agricultural Experiment Station
Texas Agricultural Extension Service
Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission
Texas Animal Health Commission
Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board
Texas Attorney General
Texas Board of Architectural Examiners
Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners
Texas Board of Dental Examiners
Texas Board of Nurse Examiners
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Texas Board of Pharmacy
Texas Board of Plumbing Examiners
Texas Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners
Texas Board of Polygraph Examiners
Texas Board of Professional Engineers
Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists
Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying
Texas Board of Tax Professional Examiners
Texas Board of Vocational Nurse Examiners
Texas Bond Review Board
Texas Building and Procurement Commission
Texas Cancer Council
Texas Commission of State Emergency Communications
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Texas Commission on Fire Protection
Texas Commission on Jail Standards
Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct
Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education
Texas Commission on the Arts
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities
Texas Council on Environmental Technology
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Texas Court Reporters Certification Board
Texas Credit Union Department
Texas Department of Agriculture
Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services(DARS)
Texas Department of Banking
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs
Texas Department of Information Resources
Texas Department of Insurance
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services
Texas Department of Public Safety
Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending
Texas Department of State Health Services
Texas Department of Transportation
Texas Dept. of Aging and Disability Services (DADS)
Texas Education Agency
Texas Engineering Experiment Station
Texas Engineering Extension Service
Texas Ethics Commission
Texas Film Commission
Texas Finance Commission
Texas Forest Service
Texas Funeral Service Commission
Texas General Land Office
Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation
Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Funding Corporation
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Texas Health and Human Services
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Texas Historical Commission
Texas Juvenile Probation Commission
Texas Law Library
Texas Legislative Budget Board
Texas Legislative Council
Texas Legislative Reference Library
Texas Lottery Commission
Texas Medical Board
Texas Military Facilities Commission
Texas Music Office
Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner
Texas Office of Court Administration
Texas Office of State-Federal Relations
Texas Optometry Board
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Texas Pension Review Board
Texas Public Finance Authority
Texas Public Insurance Counsel
Texas Public Utility Commission
Texas Racing Commission
Texas Railroad Commission
Texas Real Estate Commission
Texas Residential Construction Commission
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Texas School for the Deaf
Texas Secretary of State
Texas Securities Board
Texas Soil and Water Conservation Board
Texas State Auditor's Office
Texas State Board for Educator Certification
Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists
Texas State Board of Public Accountancy
Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings
Texas State Office of Risk Management
Texas Structural Pest Control Board
Texas Sunset Advisory Commission
Texas Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Board
Texas Transportation Institute
Texas Veterans Commission
Texas Veteran's Land Board
Texas Water Development Board
Texas Workforce Commission
Texas Workforce Investment Council
Texas Youth Commission
Trinity River Authority
University of Houston System
Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory
Wildlife Damage Management Service

I bet half of these can be merged with other agencies or cut completely.
 
I agree, I am a financial conservative stuck in IL, they spend like crazy and retire people in 50s with life long pay.

My state taxes are higher by 67% and my property Taxes went up by 8%. Thanks dems. Then I had lunch with my friend's friend and he worked for some state run organization (will not name) and he was retiring at 50 with like 2/3rd of his pay for the rest of his life, and that guy is planning to go on vacations and tour the world. Did I say thanks Dems. The roads are broken and there is rust all over the aging infrastructure. One more time, thanks liberals.



Quote from Stok:

We have no state income tax is why the property taxes are a little bit higher, but go look at the liberal states with STATE INCOME TAXES and HIGHER property taxes.....they are drowning like Greece. Socialism = EPIC FAIL.
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Quote from Covertibility:

This is why ya need a cap on spending, say capped at the rate of inflation and suspend the cap in times of an emergency.
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Sounds practical and prudent in theory. The kicker is cutting funding in education is "unconstitutional" :D :D :D ahahahahaha think I'm kidding around? Education cuts end up in court, the courts don't give a rats ass about "where's da money".

NY just passed a tax cap.

I think school districts will sell bonds, something they couldn't do before the cap and a host of other gimmicks to get around the limit to appease unions.
 
Quote from ashatet:

I agree, I am a financial conservative stuck in IL, they spend like crazy and retire people in 50s with life long pay.
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Retire at 50, with life long pay. Sounds like a deal to me! A state that *get's it* ... I'd rather live in that world than one where the "free market" makes us work until we're 80, then we get thrown under the bus because we are not as "productive" and "too expensive" as compared to the younger ones that come along, and shove you down the stairs.

Keep cutting my taxes... but not until you fix that pot hole in front of my house.

Cut more... then what was a good school district, lays off half its teachers... and your kids end up in jail, after a poor education. Home school them! ... yea, that'll work too. They'll be good at spelling. And nothing else.
 
Quote from Magic8:

Retire at 50, with life long pay. Sounds like a deal to me! A state that *get's it* ... I'd rather live in that world than one where the "free market" makes us work until we're 80, then we get thrown under the bus because we are not as "productive" and "too expensive" as compared to the younger ones that come along, and shove you down the stairs.

Keep cutting my taxes... but not until you fix that pot hole in front of my house.

Cut more... then what was a good school district, lays off half its teachers... and your kids end up in jail, after a poor education. Home school them! ... yea, that'll work too. They'll be good at spelling. And nothing else.
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You're excellent at missing the overlaying point here. Those who retire at 50 with full pay are paid for by the people who have to bust their ass until their 80 (your example).

Duh!
Scratch that, they're paid for by the bust-your-ass crowd AND by borrowing from the next generation of bust-your-ass workers.
 
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