One day the people of Texas will come to say those dreaded three little words and eventually come to accept them.I probably won't be around to see it, but it will come.
[...]
Perhaps I should use the technique of the late Fred Rogers - the beloved sweater-wearing guy from that special neighborhood on PBS - to help me teach these new words to you.
All right, boys and girls, ladies and gents, politicians and taxpayers, get ready and repeat after me:
State ... income ... tax.
Can you say that?
Sure you can.
Let's try one more time.
State ... income ... tax.
See, I knew you could do it.
Kiss My Ass.
Bob Ray Sanders thinks that simply reducing the state budget and making government more efficient isn't enough to solve the state's money problems, specifically with education. He thinks Texas needs a way to take more money from us and give it to others. He wants the Grand Statist Hammer of an income tax to take us away into some dream world where it isn't theft to take money from me when I don't want that money to be taken.
Mr. Sanders states that Texas is one of the last seven in the United States which do not have an income tax, and he views this as a bad thing, an absurd thing. Of course, he may have the x% of his income to spare and may feel that x% is reasonable for all those in his income bracket to pay. Of course, the poor, destitute, disabled, and legally-shrewd won't be paying as much as everyone else and you can be damn sure "the rich" will be forced to pay more. Because they have more. Needless to say, even if I feel generous and declare x-y% of my income fit to be spent by the state, in the public forum my opinion is taken as meaningless at best and heartless, greedy, and cruel to the Unfortunate at worst. Depending on whom you talk to.
One of the reasons I do like Texas is that there is no income tax. I would think twice about staying here if one is implemented in order to solve the public education problem. If there was ever an instance of the "solution" being worse than the "problem," this is it.
UPDATE(4/15/2004 2:55pm)
It's Income Tax Day. Read it and weep. Also, keep an eye on Rep. Eddie Rodriguez's Texas income tax plan. Boo!
UPDATE(4/28/2004 9:26am)
The proposed solutions for Texas school financing aren't any better.
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