Burnt Orange Report

"However, the goal you have set for the Commission - "producing a tax system that is the envy of the other 49 states" - addresses only half of the school finance equation. Our commitment to our children and a prosperous economic future also require us to develop an education system that is the envy of the other 49 states."

What is the point of Coleman sending a letter to Sharp? I guess the good Representative must think Sharp isn't Liberal enough to care about fixing public education in Texas.

We have to get businesses to the table so tax revenue can be generated to make Texas public education the best in the nation. A good ol' boy like Sharp is just the man for the job. Coleman (or I should say his staff) can fire off letters until the cows come home, but at the end of the day someone like Sharp, with his politics, will have the credibility to talk sense into the business community get our tax problem fixed.

Restructuging the tax system and improving our schools are two different parts of the solution. Sharp is going to look at the business tax component of the equation, and I agree that he's very well qualified to do that. That's the first step in fixing the school finance situation, and I'm looking forward to what he and the other members of the Commission ultimately report to the Legislature.

The second step, though, is putting into place some basic improvements for public education in Texas, and that part isn't up to the Tax Reform Commission -- it will be up to the Texas Legislature. Together, the two groups will, hopefully, bring some real improvements to our public schools.

I would bet that the Coleman letter has already been shredded -- unread.

i really wish john sharp would have jumped into the race for governor, but i was thinking the other day... would his candidacy have forced the liberal dems and young people over to kinky friedman? john sharp is a democrat, but he's pretty conservative by non-texas democrat standards.

Texas ranks 32nd in classroom expenditures per student, $873 below the national average. What's more, Texas ranks 34th nationally in average teacher salary, $6,232 below the national average and the lowest among the 15 most populous states.

And if these figures are adjusted for our much lower cost of living...? Middle of the pack, if not better.

Phillip:

I understand the Commission is going to look at the business tax component and I also understand that the Legislature is responsible for implementing improvements to public education in Texas. I don't need you to explain how our political system functions.

What I don't understand, is the fact Representative Coleman feels the need to spend my tax dollars sending letters for effect. To be more specific, I don't know what Coleman expects his letter will acomplish, other than to highlight political differences between a former politician and a current one. By sending a letter that as someone else put it...is most likely in the shreader...Coleman accomplishes nothing but propogating the "I'm complaining because I didn't have a seat at the table" mentality and implying through his liberal agenda, false information that Liberals are the only group of Democrats that really care about the future of public education in Texas.

If you want your percentage of taxes back that it cost to send out a single letter, we'll go run a penny through a meat slicer for ya.

Jeff:

I'm not trying to put anyone over anybody, and I wasn't trying to explain anything to you. Sorry if it came off like that. I look forward to the next few months when, hopefully, liberals, moderates, Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, independents, and every other politial-label group of people out there come together to get something done, instead of meeting in special session after special session with the same, failing, "solution" for our schools.

A bipartisan majority rejected the Perry-Craddick "not another dime for our schools plan" -a coalition of liberals, moderates and conservatives supported by educators and parents across the state. The issue in Coleman;s letter has nothing todo with "liberals." If you actually read Coleman's letter instead of focusing on political personalities, you'll see he isn't attacking Sharp or complaining about a seat at the table, but is instead just trying to point out that the limited scope of Tax Reform Commission does not allow it to solve the whole school finance problem, as the Perry spinmeisters would want us to believe. Garnet may have jumped ahead to make a point some in the press and the public aren't thinking about yet, but within the next few days pass, I bet your see columnists and others making the same point.

Outfront is that not what we elect the Legislature to do figure out how to spend the money? Does not the purse strings lay in their hands? The Gov. and Sharp are tackling the harder issue. At least the Legislators could stand up and pass something other the their own re-election agendas.

Not only are taxes and education two separate issues, but Governor Perry's great downfall this year was trying to force them to be solved simultaneously. Garnet Coleman would have John Sharp make the same mistake. Maybe Garnet needs to take a few years off to learn how the real world works!

Dale you are wrong. There has been a plan to finance education that offered real property tax relief and it was approved the second special session. The Hochberg Amendment passed with all Democrats and 16 Republicans voting for it. Craddick quickly saw to it that the bill died on verification. The TRP is now targeting the so-called "Hochberg 16" in the primaries for not falling in line with Grusendorf, Craddick & Perry.
Property tax revenue is tied to school finance in Texas. With Senator Shapleigh's leadership, the real answer is a state income tax as a base of revenue to fund schools but that's not happening. Are you one of those slot machine enthusiasts?
There are literally only a few people who understand public school finance Scott Hochberg is one of them. But this is the bottom line - the Republican leadership despises public schools and wants them privatized.
If Perry and Craddick really cared about public schools, we would have already had a plan in place right now.
Anyway, I'd like to hear your public school finance plan. Maybe you can get some republicans to vote for it.

But this is the bottom line - the Republican leadership despises public schools and wants them privatized.

It's really that the public school system is broken, and it has been shown that even more money will not solve the systemic problems. Given the political clout of the teachers union and other self-interested bureacrats in maintaining the current system, privatization simply cuts the Goridan knot through competition.

But if you prefer to believe the Republican leadership are just evil grinches who hate children, logic may not impress you.

Bottom line: Privatized schools are preferable to imprisoning the poor in a failed public school system.

Funny how only the poor are imprisoned in a failed public school system, while Grusendorf managed to find more money for public schools in the suburbs.

Dale, I never thought you were an idiot, but in this cae, you are. In Texas, education and taxation are tied together. But maybe you are willing to pay taxes without knowing what you are getting for your money. Perry is not tackling the harder issue, he has apparently lured Sharp into a charadw designed to create an election year mirage to cover up Republican failure. I hope I'm wrong and Sharp finds a way to trick F**k Perry, but that's how it looks for now. Scott Hochberg, Garnet Coleman, and a bipartisan majority of their colleagues exposed the Republican leadership failure when they passed the amendment Marie mentioned in her post. It's a pity so may otherwise informed folks are just looking at politics though the lens of personality and falling for this stunt so easily. How can you build a tax system worthy of our children and our future without considering whether or not the system will provide the resources needed to get the job done? But then, if you agree with Grover Norquist, what difference does it make?

>But if you prefer to believe the
>Republican leadership are just evil
>grinches who hate children, logic may
>not impress you.

Following the Republican priorities that balanced our State budget on the backs of low-income kids and the disabled, why would anyone reach a different conclusion? That is, anyone who is not an excuse-peddling Republican hack. Sound familiar HM?

We freakin' left federal matching dollars for CHIP on the table. Eliminated dental coverage and coverage for eyeglasses, etc. Raided a utility support program to help the poor & elderly afford their AC bills.

If yall act like real bastards, don't get your feelings hurt when someone points it out.

>Bottom line: Privatized schools are
>preferable to imprisoning the poor in
>a failed public school system.

Our public schools are primarily the product of conservative governance, at least according to all those slick direct-mail pieces churned out by Dubya in 2000. between the State Senate, a conservative house, and the governorship since 94' blame yourselves for whatever real or imagined problems exist with our public schools.

You guys claim goverment is the problem, cannot be effective at solving problems, and then you get elected and prove it.

Mario,
You the man. Logic is something Repubicans gave up on after W was elected.

bk

Well how about something different -- a NEW IDEA --not just from out of left field but deep center field, which pushes the envelope and is even out of the box. Instead of moving the sales tax, property tax and franchise tax "deck chairs" around on the Titanic, let's do something both the left and right wings can identify with -- in fact let's just lose the wings and act like a unified rocket that will satisfy taxpayers, schools, judges, and give the state a great big star for innovation.

Let's get rid of the school property taxes (not municipal and county, unfortunately), sales tax, franchise tax, excise taxes, and a variety of fees. Let's replace all that 20th century thinking with the most progressive tax available a very small transaction tax without exemption, deuction, or returns to file, immediately collected on all financial transactions carried out in the State and processed through an account registered to a Texas resident or company doing business here. Sounds different doesn't it? Now before you really smart folks start shooting this down, think it through carefully. The rate is the key -- if too big it will be worth considerable effort to evade it BUT if the rate is tiny and the penalties high -- why risk it? The rate to cover all expenditures of the state and the non-state part of school districts (approx $45 Billion annually) is generously 0.2% per side of every transaction. I say generous because it assumes capture of only an estimated 25% of the potential transaction tax base.

The Sharp Tax Commission and Legislature needs to officially sanction a study by, why not UT?, Law and Business Schools along with the Econ Dept to detail the exact size of the tax base, laws required to "capture" it and effects on the state in general. It is well worth the money for a chance to move to the 21st century in taxation. You can review the plan and the credibility behind it, based on a national format, at www.apttax.com. Meanwhile, I will watch this blog for questions and comments.