Senate Leaders: Fix State Revenue Now or Pay Later

[The Philosopher]

from The Texas Tribune

Texas needs to address its structural deficit during the current session, or it will face even deeper financial problems in two years than it faces today, senate leaders said Tuesday afternoon.

"When you have a system where you have statute after statute that forces you to spend more and more money and then you enact statutes that require you to collect less and less in taxes, you've got a system that's fundamentally unstable and sooner or later you're gonna have to fix it. I would suggest we start soon," said state Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Ogden said business taxes will definitely be part of the conversation. If the House does not take action to address that, Ogden suggested the possibility of a constitutional amendment that would authorize the state to go back to the old franchise tax.

"The biggest component is the failure of the business tax to perform as some predicted," he said after Tuesday's Senate session. "I think businesses pay most of the taxes in Texas now, and the issue is not to single out businesses as some sort of villain... The issue is having at tax system that — in my opinion — is uniform, and equitable and as low as possible, and a lot of my criticism isn't particularly directed at any one business. But as we continue to carve out exceptions over this policy that taxes should be equal and uniform, we're basically subsidizing one group at the expense of everybody else. As a matter of philosophy, I don't like it."

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-legislature/82nd-legislative-session/senate-leaders-fix-state-revenue-now-or-pay-later/">Click Here To Read More

[sonias]

1. Texas is going to opt for the pay later

They always do - and in the end we pay a whole lot more later and it continues to drive this state into a ditch.

:kick: