A coalition of conservative Texas legislators today announced their fiscal priorities for the session “to help keep our economy strong and growing” by noting that the economic climate has been caused by “poor decision-making in Washington D.C. and lack of responsibility on Wall Street.” High on their list: real reductions in property taxes.
The Texas Conservative Coalition, led by State Rep. Wayne Christian, released their priorities in a letter to Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Speaker Joe Straus, and their fellow lawmakers.
In writing about the need for property tax relief, the lawmakers note, “The best short-term policies are to alleviate the strain of appraisal increases by adopting proposals recommended by the Select Property Tax Relief and Appraisal Reform Committee, and to make sure deposits into the Property Tax Relief fund are protected against being diverted to the general budget.”
Among other items, they are also calling on their fellow legislators to mitigate the harmful business tax by increasing the payment threshold and to prevent a raid on the Rainy Day Fund for new spending programs: “we must not dip into the Rainy Day Fund except for one-time, emergency appropriations that are directly related to Hurricane Ike recovery.”
The coalition is also seeking tighter spending restraint: “We must not increase spending beyond necessary increases in public education and human services enrollment, and should look for ways to reduce spending in extraneous programs. A revised tax and expenditure limitation is also vital to protect the state from the consequences of unbridled spending that has driven California to the brink of bankruptcy.”
