Texas Business Group Offers Tax Cut Plan
When Texas lawmakers found out they’d have more than $101 billion to spend this legislative session, some immediately began calling for tax cuts. Now, one prominent business lobbying group has laid out its idea for what those cuts could look like.
Audio: Ben Philpott's story for KUT News
For Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, it’s a simple formula: Keep taxes low and the Texas economic engine keeps on chugging. Hammond says making permanent the business tax exemption for companies that bring in less than $1 million in gross receipts would fuel the economy ...
Comments (2)
hans5162@ix.netcom.com hans
Bill Hammond is no better than Governor Dumbass. They're both out to tee up the next fiscal crisis in Texas. Low taxes have nothing to do with the current surplus. It's a result of the fracking boom. Take away energy, and we're nothing more than a less well educated California, with a bunch of minimum wage jobs. We need to address critical needs, which are Education, Transportation infrastructure and Water infrastructure. We need to adequately fund education, and a start would be to replace the 5.4 Billion dollars cut the last time. Bill Hammond is always looking for a handout from government. It's time to just say NO.
Kathi Thomas
Bill Hammond has proved, once again, that he does not have the best interest of Texas' future at hand, but, rather wants his short term gain at the cost of long term good. It's the "IBG" mentality ("things will go to hell in a hand-basket in the future with these policies I'm advocating, but I'll be gone by then, so why should I care?")
The business margins tax has consistently underperformed to the tune of several billion dollars a year, due to the structural deficit in it, yet Mr. Hammond wants to cut it?
Don't get me wrong, there is much to argue with about this tax, which is on the gross, rather than the net. While I agree that it makes no since that a business that grosses $999,999 pays no margins tax, but one that makes $1dollar more pays it on the full million, it seems to me that the Lege needs to get around to fixing the lousy system they set up. I can see giving some type of exemption to that first million, but if they do, then the amounts above a million needs to be raised, not lowered, in order to make up for the billions that will be further lost from our school funding.
Another option would be to do a graduated tax, based on a business' income. Those who make, for example, less than $250,000 might be exempt. from $251,000 to $500,000 would be a rate (lower than the current one), then $500,000-999,999 would be a little higher rate, and then $1million to $49.99 million another rate (maybe it is a little lower than current, if overall they'll bring in more than currently) and then $50 million and higher would be at least the same rate as now, and possible a little higher. I don't have the figures, but if someone at the Lege would run numbers, I'd be willing to bet that the structural deficit could be fixed in this manner.
They just need to remind ALL business people that we all benefit with a well-educated workforce. Our society benefits when our kids are well-educated, and by well-educated, I don't mean to take the tests that Hammond loves so much, but, rather that they're actually EDUCATED, not trained. With real well-rounded education, we'll get more innovations, more small business start-ups and we'll all be better off.
It has been pretty clear to me for a long time that a certain segment of the far right wants to do away with public schools, and unless the structural deficit is fixed, funding for schools will continue to go down billions per year, and we'll never bring in enough money to pay for the growing population in our schools. This is one way to do it, and I'd guess there are other good ways, but cutting taxes that go to fund our schools is NOT the way to do it.