Funding Government: Texas Taxes

Here is a rundown of what the panelists said during the star-studded panel, "Funding Government: Texas Taxes." This will be in outline form, so that you can see the main points that the panelists were making.

Panelists:
Cheryl Johnson, Galveston County Tax Assessor and Collector
-Property tax levies have increased 270 percent over the last 20 years (Texas Comptroller’s Office)
-61 different taxes and fees in Texas
-How to fix it?
-Must limit all tax increases to popular vote
-$300 million of taxpayer dollars are spent by local governments to update appraisal districts
David Hartman, Chairman of the Lone Star Foundation
-the 79th Legislature’s HB 1 ended up succeeding in increasing both local and state taxes
-50% of property tax relief was swallowed up by higher appraisals
-How to fix it?
-Any property tax district that increases taxes by more than interest should be required by state law to have a “rollback election.” Unless the taxpayers approve the increase, the rollback would cap the rate.
-All districts which increase the CPI should have to refund taxpayers the excess that they were charged (assuming the taxpayers vote for a rollback)
-Increased explanation on “Truth in Taxation” statements in a comparison of this year’s and last year’s budget
Scott Hodge, President of the Tax Foundation
-Texas has more corporate headquarters than any other state in the USA (passed New York last year)
-Increased world trend toward lower taxes, US was the leader for this under Reagan
-27 countries (including Taiwan, Germany, and China) are cutting their corporate taxes
-US has the 2nd highest corporate tax rate of all developed countries
-99% of all business relocations in the US are to other states, only 1% go to other countries (dept of Labor)
-The most important rule of any tax system should be its simplicity
Stephen Moore, The Wall Street Journal
-In halving the tax rate since 1982 it has actually resulting in the top 1% paying even more taxes (currently pay 40% of all income tax)
-The Bush tax cut resulting in 8 million jobs being created in the next 4 years
-It took 71 years for telephones to be in 50% of homes, only took 4 years for iPods to do so