Texas Taxing Continued

As we already know, among list of about 60 various taxes collected by our Comptroller, income tax will not be on that list. Instead we see a few that are quite unclear or just silly.

For example: the Cement Production Tax, collecting 55 cents per ton of cement from the person who manufactures or produces cement in Texas. The only other state that I have seen with a similar tax is Montana. Get this: the Oyster Sales Fee, which collects one dollar for every “300lb-barrel of oysters taken from Texas waters” due the 20^th day of every month.

Due quarterly is the Fee on Sexually Oriented Businesses Tax, which puts you out of a sexy 5 dollars for every “entry” by the customer admitted to the business. I doubt that previous tax is so rare for other states, but it still is pretty fun to look at the specifics and numbers of some of these taxes not really seen by the common man (or woman.)

Concluding my list but definitely not the last on the tax list is the Pari-Mutuel Tax. This tax is imposed on money wagered on Horse and Greyhound Racing, including during broadcasts. 1% is collected per about 100 million dollars for live pools or horses or greyhounds. A report must be received by the comptroller the business day following a race.

The fact that these seemingly strange taxes exist really makes me wonder what kind of revenue is built from these taxes specifically. I wonder if these are a result of compensation for a nonexistent income tax. 

Informative article about the structure of our legislature

         I recently read Leigh’s article about the structure of our legislature. She brings up points about our legislature following a “citizen legislature” model. This idea of citizen legislature, even just the name, sounds pretty reassuring in the nature that legislation would be better representative of our public, the citizens, as they make up the legislature.

         Leigh explains why this structure doesn't necessarily work in our populated state, and she gives insight as to how it could potentially serve to widen the socioeconomic gap between the representors and the represented. 

         The article is very informative, intelligently worded, and occasionally laced with humor. It is definitely worth the read.

Income tax? Whatever.

Along with Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming, Texas is one of the few states with no income tax. Sounds great right? Well kind of. Texas is going to get its money some way or another. Although Texans do pay more when it comes to other forms of taxation whether it is sales taxes, property taxes, fuel taxes, etc, it would be safe to say the tax burden is relatively low.

Our tax-utopia looks like the Promised Land to those in states like California with suicidal tax policies leaving a fairly powerful statement on the migration data. Though there is fairly inconclusive evidence that people under low tax governments appear happier than the proud patriots in high tax nations such as Brazil, there is substantial evidence that income tax less states create more jobs and grow faster.

On the other hand, the less money the government receives, the less it can spend, and this spending burden is particularly noticeable when it comes to financing education. This creates debt on the local level to cover the cost of school districts and public maintenance projects. I don’t think that Texans would be so keen to adopt a state income tax just to ease the stress on our government’s coin purse. But hey, maybe one day, one Pringles can at a time, 8.25% at a time, we can fix some potholes on Metric Blvd.

TxDoT

Harold Cook writing from the blog “Letters from Texas” posts a well formulated argument against the “conservatism” of the Texas Department of Transportation. He argues that the Department of Transportation are proceeding with their plans to turn what used to be perfectly serviceable paved state highways into gravel roads. He then assigns blame to the heavy oilpath trucks which are “ruining” the roads in areas where the oil business is booming. He provides a speculation that these trucks will likely avoid these gravel roads and take alternative routes with faster speed limits. What Cook is forgetting is that the Texas Department of Transportation assigns the truckers specific routes and they will have a difficult time getting out of the assigned routes which will probably force them to take the slow speed gravel roads. My problem with Cook’s article is his anti-republican attitude seems to take control and skew the issue from the conservative nature of TxDoT to the “more important” lowering of speed limits and the finger pointing of the Obama-bashing republicans. Aside from the obvious democratic bias in the article, Cook brings up great points concerning the state of Texas roads and the supposed neglect of the Department of Transportation in fixing the damaged roads. Cook’s article is insightful, laced with humor, a tad bit biased, but is definitely worth the read.

"Federal grant means more firefighters," Should it?

Addressing to the general public, an opinion article posted on the Star-Telegram explains last year the Fort Worth fire department had lost funding for 24 positions that were left open by the shrinking of the department. Recently the “lean times have been short lived” with the department $3.38 million dollars in a federal grant allowing the filling of the department’s empty positions.

The article posts the opinion that questions whether the temporary solution by federal funding is going to sustain the department for 2 years when the federal funding quits, and if adding fire fighters to the department so quickly with funding in sight is really what it should be doing right now. The author states that the budget constraints in 2016 could be less severe and that other agencies will probably want in on federal support.

The article is to the point and backed up with facts and well formulated data, not to mention some humorous approaches when the author writes,

“And the department’s spokesman says the cuts have had no effect on rapid response to fire emergencies. Good news.”

Overall, the article is well written and states issues that most any citizen would like to know about. With the fire department being some of the life savers of the city, I feel that the article properly addresses questions and concerns that should be held by common citizens.

Mexican-American Studies Class

The Texas Board of Education has yet to approve an increasingly controversial new high school course: “Mexican-American studies.” Those optimistic about getting the course made official, hope that it will pass through the Board of Education before next school year.
Democrat Ruben Cortez, proposer of the course, says that introducing the Mexican-American studies course as an official state class would keep the school curriculum “consistent” and prove itself to be “innovative” with the Latino student majority.
On the other hand, Republican Patricia Hardy, said districts have plenty of leeway in courses that can be taught, including Bible classes. Hardy then follows with, “We’re not about taking each little group out and saying, ‘You’re the majority, so we’re going to teach your history.’ We’re Americans, United States people.”
A spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency says that Mexican-American studies isn’t the only course on the list to be approved. There are 20 other courses that are still being considered for creation and the board can only create a limited amount of courses each year.