04.30.06
state funding plan doesn’t work out
School funding plan doesn’t yield enough money for promised tax reduction
– reported by KTRK ABC Channel 13
Gov. Rick Perry’s school funding plan, approved this week by the House, does not prescribe enough money to give Texas homeowners a promised one-third reduction in property taxes.
The plan, which could change in the Senate, aims to replace a portion of property taxes with an expanded business tax, a cigarette tax increase, a change in the way auto sales are taxed and part of the surplus. The cigarette tax is expected to be approved by the House Thursday.
But, those provisions would only generate enough money to give Texans an 11 percent property tax cut in its first year and about a 25 percent decrease in the second year.
To make up the difference, lawmakers would have to raise additional taxes or use some of the surplus, estimated at $8.2 billion.
