Candidate Positions On Taxes For Schools

One of the most important issues in the campaign for governor of Texas, has been the issue of how to pay for our schools. Nearly all of the candidates have their solutions, and they are very different. In fact, this issue may be the one that most clearly defines the difference between the candidates.

Rick Perry's position is known because he just approved some taxes in the last legislative session. In exchange for a cut in property taxes, Perry approved a new and higher business tax, and also approved a large cigarette tax increase. Now it looks like his property tax cuts are disappearing because of higher appraisal values. Perry's solution is coming up short, and will probably have to be revisited in the next legislative session.

Kinky Friedman doesn't like the new business tax or the new cigarette tax. He says he would abolish both of them. Kinky wants to legalize casino gambling, and dedicate the billions of dollars raised to education. He says Texans are already gambling, but they have to go out-of-state to do it. This provides a huge windfall of Texas money for these other states. Kinky would keep this money in Texas, and use it to pay for public education.

Chris Bell doesn't believe we have adequately funded the schools, and has said he would favor an even higher business tax to solve the problem. That's kind of a brave position in an election year, but he probably didn't have a whole lot of the business vote anyway. It is, at least, a viable position.

James Werner says he would abolish the new business tax, and would also abolish property taxes. He says he would pay for this with a higher and broader-based sales tax.

Carole Strayhorn is the only candidate without a viable solution. Grandma just seems to want to play politics with the issue. She says she would abolish the business tax, and then make more property tax cuts. But she won't tell us how she plans to pay for all this cutting. It's easy and popular to talk about cutting taxes - the hard part is coming up with a solution. This is something Grandma has failed to do.

There you have it. Four candidates have offered different, but viable solutions. One has played politics. She should be ashamed of herself.