A blog out last week from Texas Monthly points out one of the most dangerous things I've heard this campaign season from the Texas Lt. Governor front-runner, Dan Patrick - cutting property taxes. The other points of interest that the leftist author, Paul Burka, points out as terrible things the Tea Party candidates are going for in the next legislative session, I love - Open carry, banning sanctuary cities, tough immigration laws. Sounds great! Bring it on!
So cutting property taxes has a really nice ring to it for any politician to say. The voters eat that stuff up. Unless, of course, they know what's really going on. You see Dan Patrick is running for a state level office so here's a newsflash...we don't have a state property tax. So what is Dan Patrick exactly going to cut and how is he going to do it?
Take a look at your property tax bill. Most likely you'll find a school tax, city tax, county tax and possibly one or more special district taxes such as an emergency services district, municipal utility district, etc. Nothing from the state of Texas. So how is Dan or any other state level politician going to cut taxes that they do not control? I'll tell you. They'll take the control away from your local elected officials. The primary way they will do that is cap property tax increases. That will do one thing for you locally, tie the hands of your local government. You know how much money your city gets from the State of Texas for operations and maintenance of all your city services? Zero. So if Dan Patrick cuts what your local elected officials can do to raise revenue who is going to pay for that new police car or fix that pothole? Not Dan.
The way I see it, you have the most control over your local government. Your city council, school board and county commissioners live nearby and you run into them at the grocery store and the park. You can probably access videos of their proceedings and review their meeting packets online (certain limitations apply if you're a Johnson County, TX resident) and you can probably attend a meeting and voice your opinion. Think you'll be heard at the capital in Austin? If you are of the mind that your local property taxes are too high then get a copy of the budget and get to know your local representation. Don't outsource it to Austin.
So why would I want an Austin politician deciding how my city, county and school district can tax? Do I want Austin deciding how nice my roads can be, how many parks we can build or when we'll build another elementary school? Is this the new Tea Party view on government - top down? I don't think so so why has this become a valid campaign point for a conservative candidate? I think he and the rest with the same message are doing one thing, taking advantage of uninformed voters. Say what it takes to win and worry about the details later. People love the sound of a tax cut.
It's time for people to see what's really going on and take back control. If this is the current Tea Party then we need a tea party tea party.
A.J.
The Tea Party changed once it became organized and no longer a simple band of citizens fed up with big government. The current Tea Party makes me think what I really am is Libertarian.
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