Tax-and-Keep Republicans
Let me introduce you to Republican State Senator Konni Burton from Fort Worth. She’s a doozy, Honey. Konni describes herself as a wife, mother, and lifelong Christian. I describe her as a money-grubbing, intolerant hypocrite.
Texas does not have a state income tax. Texas funds government through property taxes. That’s pretty fair because if you are rich enough to have lots of property or a big fancy pants house, you pay more taxes. Guess who has lots of property? Konni Burton.
Burton has a nice home near Fort Worth, two beach condos in Port Aransas, and a hundred acre chunk of property near Waco.
So, she’s seeking to change this whole tax business.
Konni wants to do away with property tax in favor of a consumption tax. Anybody with a pencil can tell you that means a 25% sales tax. On everything. School supplies, new cars, underpants, and even, according to Konni, house sales.
Okay, I can see all the good folks in Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico rubbing their hands together because Texans are going to fund their schools and government. For example, I can drive to Louisiana in two hours. They have a Costco in Louisiana. So, if I go stock up for myself and a couple of neighbors and spend $500 at Costco, I save myself over a hundred bucks and use that money to go to a casino or eat gumbo.
But, Honey, I’m not going to go live in Louisiana and that’s why property taxes work.
Reasons to change from property tax to consumption tax:
1. Rich people get to shove a lot of the burden onto middle-class and poorer people.
2.
Nope, can’t think of a #2. Anybody? Well, there’s “GOP lawmakers are selfish glassbowls,” but we take that for granted.
1i agree that a consumption tax would be a very bad thing, but please don’t make the mistake of thinking property taxes aren’t almost as bad. they are regressive by nature, they are one of the prime drivers of neighborhood displacement, and they don’t fund things equitably, just to name a few of their problems.
state income tax. say it with me.
2Joel, I totally agree with you.
3Even the ultra-con Star-Telegram (think the village idiot Amon Carter) asks questions op-ed-wise about KKKonni Burton.
https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/richard-greene/article198166944.html
4Repeat after me:
“Do unto others what you would never have done to yourself”.
That’s the Gold Rules…
5Konni, et ux’s Port A vacation properties are valued at more than $1,200,000 ($1.2Million). However, one is a house, the other a condo which appears to have been recently sold. Would guess that their Colleyville homeplace is worth even more.
Way back in the 1970’s, when I got serious about things like taxes and politics, I came to certain studied conclusions about having a Texas state income tax which, as a much less regressive tax scheme, would allow for much lower sales and property taxes.
6My co-workers had conniption fits (I must be a soshlistcommiepinko…). Which they also did when I advocated for a universal, single-payer health care system (like then new Medicare and the national systems of Canada, et al; spastic conniptions followed from them).
Pretty well given up since, you cain’t fix stupid.
I do my best to buy almost everything I can from online, out of Texas, sources, who do not charge Texas sales taxes. I buy everything I can that way, from can openers, electronics, washers and dryers, etc., if at all possible. Even most of my boat stuff comes from a distant chandler who is sales tax-free.
Screw them all.
If I could buy everything online that way I would. It saves about 9% on it all, a significant amount overall (when you do have to buy a big-ticket item and pay that, it always gives me a headache to see that big chunk going to the thieves in Austin– I know some comes back locally, screw them too).
Although I think that the Reptaliban Congress has now changed the interstate commerce laws to force such non-sales tax OOS vendors to begin deducting them; not sure when or if it goes into effect.
7I once did the research on taxes in Alabama. No state income tax on retirement income, low sales taxes and the tax on a $250000 house was less than $300.
We better keep an eye on this woman. She will try to turn us into Alabama.
8Just how would that sales tax work on houses? Say you bought an average price house of $250K. The sales tax would be over $62K. Is it part of the closing costs? That means young families would be greatly affected, having to put off buying a home. Maybe that’s part of the plan – to create a long-term renter class.
9I think the online sales tax law has changed. SD won a court case making it legal for states to collect sales taxes from online vendors. It doesn’t take effect till after the first few hundred bucks. epo, help me out here. You know the specifics, or where to find them.
Details are on this blog, but I can’t find a search button. dakotafreepress.com
10Wa. state has same property tax + sales tax formula and Oregon/Idaho businesses say thank you.
11After all it would be criminal to require bill gates to apy his fair share.
K says: I must disagree with your comment re: Bill Gates. Both he and his father believe that the rich do NOT pay enough taxes and want to keep the estate tax which the R’s want to eliminate.
Plus Bill Gates gives so much of his wealth away to support education, health and many other worthy endeavors. Not all billionaires are selfish.
12RE: Bill Gates
Bill is a whiny self-absorbed rich kid who started out about 6 feet from home plate down the third base line. Then he lied to IBM about an operating system for their new PC that he did not have. He approached a company in Seattle that did have such an OS, paid them $50k for, then spent the weekend changing the names inside the OS source to Micro Soft, before leasing its use to IBM. Years later the federal government sued M$ (United States v. Microsoft Corporation, 253 F.3d 34 (D.C. Cir. 2001)) and in a deposition he intimated that the desktop of our PCs was his, and he intended to fill it from top to bottom and side to side with M$ shortcuts. (Well NOT on my personal PC buckwheat.)
Regardless of whatever good Bill does with his billions since exiting M$, his friendship with Warren Buffet, etc etc, I call him scum. Fence scum, pond scum, milk scum. Take your pick. Scum.
13Bill gates has fought a state income tax in Washington.
14His “charity” scam has ofeten times been just a promotion of MS products. Remember working with Childrens Museum that ran on Mac’s and MS dumped thousands of $’s of MS programs on them that would only run on windows and would not give out any MS programs that ran on Mac’s.
So much for his charity.
Remember talk is cheap but when it comes to separating the rich from their money talk goes out the window in favor of protecting every last penny they had managed to get their grubby little paws on.
Have to give him credit for a good PR firm that promotes his self serving scams.
What Micr says RE: Bill Gates,
Gates is a very smart guy and shrewd businessman (with a lot of family help) with some good qualities, but he basically initiated his fortune as a ‘software pirate’.
As Micr summarizes, Gates cagily ‘acquired’ (for just $75K) the core computer OS’s of two talented pioneers of the industry, Gary Kildall of CP/M, and Tim Paterson, of Seattle Computer Products. Whose operating systems were melded into Gates’ MS-DOS which IBM then used for their “PC” for much more than $75K.
IOW, the common robber baron of old.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS#History
“MS-DOS was a renamed form of 86-DOS[9] – owned by Seattle Computer Products, written by Tim Paterson. Development of 86-DOS took only six weeks, as it was basically a clone of Digital Research’s CP/M (for 8080/Z80 processors), ported to run on 8086 processors and with two notable differences compared to CP/M; an improved disk sector buffering logic and the introduction of FAT12 instead of the CP/M filesystem. This first version was shipped in August 1980.[5] Microsoft, which needed an operating system for the IBM Personal Computer[10][11] hired Tim Paterson in May 1981 and bought 86-DOS 1.10 for $75,000 in July of the same year. Microsoft kept the version number, but renamed it MS-DOS. They also licensed MS-DOS 1.10/1.14 to IBM, who, in August 1981, offered it as PC DOS 1.0 as one of three operating systems[12] for the IBM 5150, or the IBM PC.[5]
Within a year Microsoft licensed MS-DOS to over 70 other companies.[13] It was designed to be an OS that could run on any 8086-family computer. Each computer would have its own distinct hardware and its own version of MS-DOS, similar to the situation that existed for CP/M, and with MS-DOS emulating the same solution as CP/M to adapt for different hardware platforms.”
15“Bill Gates is a monocle and a Persian cat away from being the villain in a James Bond movie.” — Comedian Dennis Miller
16re Online ordering: Maybe I am just not in the category in which paying sales taxes is burdensome. It’s the shipping that kills me. I have passed up many a purchase for that reason.
17Crone, about the only tax AL has is on groceries etc. This hits everyone right up the wazoo, most especially the poor. AL also has a casino or two. They are part of the “tourism industry”. I still cannot figure out how that state can support a school system from K through university. The elementary schools my grandkids attended there are in a constant resource struggle. Parents are begged by teachers for help in supplying the most basic needs. The electric company even came down hard on schools for unpaid bills. No wonder Bamans call their state government Goat Hill!
18Linda Phipps, a 9% sales tax on any purchase amount is a big chunk. With the main vendor that I use, I’m rarely charged any shipping, so save both ways.
I’ve bought heavy (almost 80lb) $300+ items and had them delivered FedEx in a couple of days, without sales tax or shipping charges; and those prices are 10-40% cheaper than anywhere else. I’ve seen the exact same items on places like the HSN and QVC on ‘sale’ for 20-50% more than I paid, plus shipping and tax.
Even if you must pay a shipping charge, the lack of a sales tax more than compensates for the shipping (or vice versa).
Besides, there’s the convenience of no hassle online shopping (with all the product research you want to do to find the best item and deal).
No going out, then dragging it home, it just shows up at the door.
Like pet supplies from Chewy, I luv it. Do pay a sales tax (they have a dist center near Dallas), but free shipping (FedEx).
No more hassling with big 20-30lb sacks of chow, once a month a big box or two show up outside, easy to open and put away (got to keep those barncats and raccoons well fed).
The game has changed.
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