The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 25, 2002 Page: 2 of 24
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Hemphill County Area Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Hemphill County Library.
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2
THURSDAY 25 JULY 2002
" 76e (fawzcUott R] i011 )
opinion
page
by laurie ezzell brown
Smarter Taxes = A Better Texas
By Dick Lavine
Received your latest property tax appraisal? If
you're like most homeowners you're suffering
sticker shock watching your property taxes go up
and up.
Wonder why this is happening?
It's because our school finance system is already
at its limit. The state doesn't have enough money to
keep up its share of public school costs, so local
school boards have been forced to push property tax
rates higher and higher. Many districts are already
at the maximum tax rate. Most of the others don't
have far to go.
You probably already know that your property
taxes are unrelated to your ability to pay. If your
home's value increases you owe more money even if
your paycheck has stayed the same.
School costs are not the only pressure on state
and local budgets. Texas is growing fast, and de-
mands for all sorts of services are increasing dra-
matically. This is no surprise; we all want good
schools, world-clasS colleges, efficient transporta-
tion, and secure prisons.
Candidates understand this and are promising a
better Texas. But they're offering new programs at
the same time the state is having problems just
keeping current programs going. They also pretend
that we don't need any more money.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
So how do we meet the needs of a growing state
and ease our property tax burden?
First we must try to fix the current system. We
can try to make sure that everyone is paying their
fair share of property taxes. We can try to scrub the
Tax Code of wasteful tax breaks. W e can try to bring
the sales tax up to date by taxing services, the fast-
est growing part of our modern economy. But even
these changes won't be enough to fund schools,
roads, and prisons or cut our sales and property
taxes.
What else can we do?
There is one tax that could help support the
Texas we all want, reduce our property taxes and re-
flect our ability to pay. Texas does not have an in-
come tax.
What if we did?
The Texas Constitution guarantees that an in-
come tax cannot be adopted without a statewide ref-
erendum. If we adopt an income tax, two-thirds of
the revenue would go to cut property taxes. The
other one-third would be dedicated to education.
The Legislature couldn't even raise the tax rate
without going back to voters for approval. That's all
in the Constitution.
If Texas adopted an income tax like that of Kan-
sas, most Texas families would pay less in taxes. The
income tax and the mandatory property tax cuts
would mean that more than 60 percent of families
would see a tax cut. The highest-income families
would pay the most in a new state income tax.
However, they would also receive the most bene-
fit from the federal deduction for state income taxes.
Under the plan, the property tax cuts would be huge.
Here are the numbers: the income tax would gener-
ate $17.3 billion in new revenue. By law, two-thirds
of this - $11.5 billion - would go back to taxpayers in
the form of lower property taxes. This would be
enough to virtually eliminate school property taxes
in our state, cutting school property taxes by 85
percent.
The remaining revenue from the income tax - $5.8
billion - would support education.
Uncle Sam would help out through deductions on
Texans' federal tax returns, which would reduce our
federal income taxes by $1.8 billion a year. That's
money that otherwise would have gone to Washing-
ton, but would instead stay in Texas.
A state income tax is not a cure-all. We would still
face enormous challenges in building our future. But
we need to take a good hard look at all our options.
There may be alternatives out there that would be
better for all of us.
THE AUTHOR, Dick, Laving is senior fiscal ana-
lyst at the CeMer for Public Policy Priorities, a
nonprofit nonpartisan research organization that
works on behalf of low-incotne Teticms. He can be
reached at (512) 3%0-08M in Austin.
RECORD
INCORPORATED FEBRUARY 1998
USPS 087-960
P.O. Box 898, Canadian (Hemphill) Texas 79014
TELEPHONE: (806)323-6461 FAX: (806)323-5738
E-MAIL: canadianrecord@ canadianrecord. com
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
$25/Year in Hemphill County
$30/Year in adjoining counties
$35/Year elsewhere
Periodicals postage paid
at the U.S. Post Office in Canadian, Texas.
Published weekly in Canadian, Texas
by Nancy M. Ezzell.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
The Canadian Record, Box 898, Canadian, TX 79014
BEN EZZELL Editor & Publisher 1948-1993
08
NANCY EZZELL, Editor & Publisher
LAURIE EZZELL BROWN, Editor
editor@canadianrecord.com
TONYA FINSTERWALD, Advertising Manager
advertising@canadianrecord.com
CATHY RICKETTS, News & Features
news@canadianrecord.com
MARY SMITHEE, Office Manager
circulation@canadianrecord.com
Design & Production: KIM McKlNNEY
Cover Design: TONYA FINSTERWALD
photography: LAURIE BROWN, CATHY RICKETTS,
SETH DAVIDSON
MEMBER
2002
Trk
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
CITY MANAGER DEAN LOOPER couldn't have been less enthusi-
astic about the City Council's efforts to clean up the community by en-
couraging more aggressive enforcement of property code violations.
Well, maybe he could have been less enthusiastic, but probably not
while he was still breathing.
Considering all the work that has been done to make this a more ap-
pealing place to live and visit, Looper's wet blanket approach to the
whole notion of cleaning up our messes pretty much steamed me. But
my friend J.O. was in a better humor about the whole thing, and was
able to apply his down-home philosophical spin on the whole thing.
Now J.O. may not be the most educated fellow to come down the
caprock, but he's makes a might good point when he sets his mind to it.
So I'm turning over my column to ol' J.O. this week:
ME AND SKEET come to town thu other evening to get sum fence
steeples an' a box of bailing wire, as we needed to do sum repairs on thu
home place. We wuz near out of red beans and fatback so after we fin-
ished at thu lumber company, we headed down to thu grocery store.
Being as how it wuz Thursday, we got a copy of yur newspaper, so as to
keep up on current events and thu police blotter and such. (It's also reel
handy to put under thu tractor what has that pesky oil drip.)
Then we headed up thu hill so's Skeet could get won of them sno-ball
things. While he wuz off gettin' hisself a large grape sno-ball, I set down
to reed thu paper. I shore wanted to know what thu City Council wuz
gonna do about them ol' houses what you dun wrote about las'week or so.
Now, I don' want to get in no tussel, but I believe sum folks has been
comin' down two hard on this issue. There's a lot of good things 'bout
them buildings that's being ignored an' me an' Skeet want to set thu re-
cord straight.
Furenstance* them places is traditional, not to mention histerical.
They been like that fur as long as folks herebouts can remember. We've
Seen them places since we wuz just little pups, and they ain't never
changed from then to now 'n they oughta stay jus' like they is. Instead
of tearing 'em down, we ought to be tiyin' to get won of them iron high-
way signs put up so's folks wood know why thu place had been left like
that for so long and all.
Also, them Archie Olliejust fellers is always comin' to thu ranch
diggin' holes an' looking fur old stuff. They're worse than prairie dogs.
Why, they durn near ruint thu south pasture. Nex' time they show up
we'll send 'em to town. They can study on thu way thu early settlers
lived an' what kind o' beer they drank in thu olden days an' al an' leave
my pasture alone. Heck, they might even right a book 'bout thu ruins of
Canadian an' they'd be a toorist traction.
And fur your information, Ms. City Gal, them buildings plays a im-
portant roll in nature. Snakes 'n rats 'n bugs got to live sumwhere, jus'
like me an' Skeet. Why, there's no tellin' what all lives in them ol' build-
ings. That lady what writes 'bout all them birds could do a story on
identifyin' thu different kinds of rodents and reptiles and such what can
be found right here in Canadian, UsofA, without even leaving town.
On a positive note, Skeet 'n me want to go on thu record as agreeing
with that city manger feller 'bout this town bein' pristine enough jus' thu
way it is. I don' know fur shure, but I figure pristine is jus' another word
fur sissified, an' I'm tired of it. Jus' look at thu water. Used to be a feller
could see what he wuz drinkin, but no more. Today's water jus' don't
have thu flavor 'n color it used to have. I like to see whut I'm sippin'.
Same thing's happened to thu air-it's all thin an' week. At home, me
and Skeet bunk downwind from thu cesspool 'cause we like our air
manly. Since they quit burnin' thu dump, 'bout thu only time a person
can get manly air in Canadian is when thu horses go by at thu parade or
when thu wind is out of thu north. Any other time, a feller is tuck with
pristine air which is probably what they breath in Californy at them
whine sipping parties an' thu like. (Now, if you've a mind to get reel
manly air that'll put hair on yur chest as it burns thu hairs outta yur
nose, me 'n Skeet will take you up towards Perryington whur they got
them hogs-that's manly!)
We also want to thank that mayor lady fur standing up for poor
folks. Them what has money can afford to cut weeds and haul off trash
an' they should. But poor folks is different. You furget that them cars
up on blocks an' that barrel of mashed beer cans is all sum people has.
Why sum of them cars has been in thu family fur generations. An' thu
weeds an' trees growin' up thru thu windshield is as purty as what that
Marthy Steward lady does, by golly.
Yes mam, me an' Skeet agree that Canadian is 'bout as pristine as
we can stand an' don't need no more changing. Give it sum thought an'
see if you don' change your views.
J.O. GAFFNEY, Toadspit, Texas
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Ezzell, Nancy & Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 25, 2002, newspaper, July 25, 2002; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth220539/m1/2/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.