Posted on 04/19/2004 11:27:21 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
Says children will pay for it 'for the rest of their lives'
AUSTIN -- Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn on Monday delivered a scathing review of Gov. Rick Perry's school finance proposal, saying it would create a $10 billion deficit within five years and provide little property tax relief.
Just one day before lawmakers convene a 30-day special session on school finance, Strayhorn likened the governor's plan to a "balloon payment" that Texas children "will be paying for the rest of their lives."
"This governor's plan replaces Robin Hood with Robbin' Everybody," Strayhorn said in probably her most pointed attack on Perry's policies so far.
Much of the difference between hers and Perry's figures, Strayhorn said, stems from the governor's use of an inflated figure for the average value of a Texas home. She said the actual average appraised value is $97,000. The governor's office, she said, used $167,000, which is based on real estate sales, not all appraisals.
The comptroller, who does not deny that she may challenge Perry in the 2006 Republican primary, has been openly feuding with the governor on budgetary matters for months.
Perry challenged Strayhorn to detail how she would provide property tax relief and pay for schools.
"I invite anyone who has a better plan, or another plan, to lay it out in a positive and constructive way. That's all I would ask of the comptroller or anyone else," Perry told reporters after promoting his plan before a special legislative committee.
Perry's spokeswoman, Kathy Walt, was more critical.
"Once again, the comptroller's rhetoric continues to grow meaner as her grasp of policy matters grows leaner," said Walt.
Strayhorn's skewering of Perry's plan only added to the controversy surrounding the session, which Perry called despite the lack of consensus on a new school finance and tax plan.
Both Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick wanted Perry to hold off on the session because of the lack of agreement about how to solve what everyone agrees is the toughest issue facing state government.
"I just thought that we should not have a session until we had some type of agreement on where we were going to make sure we could pass something," Craddick said Monday. "We shouldn't waste the taxpayers' money or the members' time unless we had some type of agreement."
Perry's plan provides initial property tax relief for homeowners with deeper cuts to come for both residential and commercial property in the future. Dewhurst and Craddick, however, want significant school property tax cuts for all taxpayers now.
Perry has said that larger property tax cuts would require a much larger tax bill that risks job creation.
Today will mark the beginning of the fourth special legislative session Perry has called since the end of the regular session last June. The other three were divisive sessions on congressional redistricting.
Perry told the special legislative committee that his plan would cut property taxes by $3.2 billion and increase education funding by $2.5 billion.
"My plan is one way to tackle these issues, but it certainly is not the only way, and I don't contend that it is a perfect way. But I do believe it is the best way," he said.
Perry wants to lower residential school property tax rates, which now average $1.45 per $100 assessed valuation, to $1.25. Business property taxes would be lowered to $1.40 and would be collected by the state and distributed equitably to school districts.
The governor would pay for the property tax cuts and new spending through a combination of expanded gambling and cigarette taxes, closing of franchise and auto sales tax loopholes and a $5 fee on patrons of strip clubs.
Over time, Perry would use budget surpluses to "buy down" the school property tax rates for both businesses and homeowners to 75 cents.
Strayhorn, the state's official revenue estimator, gave her assessment of Perry's plan in a letter to the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker. She later expanded on her criticisms at a news conference.
Strayhorn said the governor's plan would save the average homeowner $204 a year in property taxes -- less than half of the $418 annual savings projected by Perry -- and increase property taxes for businesses in 203 of the state's 1,000-plus school districts.
Nobody would see property tax relief until December 2005, only a few months before the governor faces GOP voters, she said.
What's more, Strayhorn added, the plan, on average, would increase education spending by $10 per student in 2006 and $53 in 2007, far short of the $375 per student that the governor's office has estimated.
More than 60 percent of school districts -- including the Houston Independent School District and other major, urban districts -- would not get any additional money under Perry's plan, the comptroller said. A handful of wealthy, primarily residential districts -- including Highland Park in Dallas, Alamo Heights in San Antonio and Eanes in Austin -- would see significant funding boosts, she added, perpetuating inequality.
"This plan fails our taxpayers and fails our Texas schoolchildren," Strayhorn said. "This plan does not work financially."
Walt said that Strayhorn's projections have been wrong in the past. Shortly before the 2003 session, she doubled her revenue shortfall estimate from $5 billion to $10 billion.
"Her doomsday projections appear to be based on fuzzy math," Walt said.
Strayhorn said she was not playing politics but instead was fulfilling her "constitutional responsibility to assure a pay-as-you-go, no deficit-spending, balanced budget."
Radio talk show host launches boycott against local newspaper: (Houston Chronicle)
WHAT??
Change it all you want just don't give us new, more or higher taxes.
To win this game, Strayhorn needs to offer something politically popular, not take shots at a good idea.
Really though, something has to be done. The taxing authorities have discovered a cash cow in bumping appraisals up by 10% every year and they are cashing in big time. It is hurting the real estate market because people are believing the bogus appraisals and dumping resale homes on the market at sky-high prices.
Over the four years I was in my home, the taxing authority tried to ratchet up 10% each and every year. Every time I used hard data to refute it.
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