Texas Governor Perry running on passing 66 percent majority to raise taxes.

[Skink]

As a state Texas has done well attracting businesses etc. Now the governor wants us to be like California.

[efhmc]

1. Sorry, but I do not understand this at all.

[slackmaster]

2. I thought businesses were attracted to Texas because of low corporate taxes, no personal income tax

If being attractive to businesses is good, why would making it more difficult to raise taxes be bad?

ETA I live in California. My state has done a great job of driving businesses out even with the 2/3 majority requirement to raise taxes.

[ParkieDem]

5. my take

Just for the disclaimer, I'm a lifelong Texan so I don't know the full details of the California situation.

All that being said, my understanding is that California's problems do not primarily come from the 2/3 requirement to raise taxes per se, but from (1) Prop 13's caps on property taxes, and (2) the fact that voters have, by referendum, adopted several policies which drain the state treasury of funds (e.g. education initiatives, the 3-strike rule, etc).

As Texas does not allow voters to adopt referendums as easily, I don't necessarily have a problem with a 2/3 requirement to raise taxes, especially because, in Texas, our tax system is pretty regressive (no income tax, high sales and property taxes).

Of course, I will not in a thousand years be voting for Perry, and think White has a decent shot. I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in.

[Skink]

6. I'm sure sales taxes levied by cities are going to be exempted.

that is if the 66 percent rule is enacted. Sales taxes are particularly regressive.

[ParkieDem]

8. That may be --

But I think that, for most cities, the legislature will have to act in order for them to raise sales taxes. If I'm not mistake, cities are free to set their own sales tax rates, but the combined state/local rate cannot exceed 8.25%.

[slackmaster]

7. Our modest property taxes are more than offset by our high income, sales, and corporate taxes

I understand that Texas has high sales taxes and that some areas have very high property taxes, but the overall tax burden for a working middle-class Texan is a lot lower than it is for us out here.

Just to be clear, the 2/3 vote requirement is one of the provisions of Proposition 13. Prop. 13 was a genuine voter revolt motivated by a state legislature and counties that showed insufficient restraint in raising peoples' taxes. Until that root problem is fixed, there is no way that Prop. 13 is going away.

[ParkieDem]

9. Don't worry ...

... I know people in California, and I wouldn't dare compare my level of taxation to yours.

As for Prop 13, I don't think it's bad in and of itself -- it addressed a legitimate problem, which was people being taxed on levels of wealth that only existed on paper. Voters were saying that "we don't want higher taxes," which is a completely legitimate argument. The problem arose when, after saying they didn't want higher taxes, the voters voted for all sorts of government programs that had to be funded by, well, taxes. There's a push-pull there, and something has to give.

My conservative friends (sorry, it's hard to live in Texas without befriending conservatives) also suggest that California's problem is largely driven by overly-generous public-employee pensions, which are now exploding. I'm not sure about that, seems like conservatives always want to pile it on pensioners.

[gratuitous]

3. Yeah, the whole majority rules idea sucks

And we don't like stuff that sucks. As long as the overrich and their toadies and dupes get to run things, one third should be sufficient to stop anything from happening. And when the schools have to shut down, the roads are impassable, and the sewer systems back up every time you get more than a tenth of an inch of rain, one or two people might begin to wonder if it was such a good idea after all. But Perry and his henchmen will be long gone by then. Suckers.

[Skink]

4. Right on.

Now the fine citizens of Texas might elect White so there is hope.

[Johonny]

10. Welcome to California's hell