True or false? Made up numbers? Who are we to believe?
Posted on 03/08/2005 7:37:49 AM PST by Cat loving Texan
Measure seeks hike in general sales tax plus extra charge on baked goods, sodas, chips.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005 Texans would pay more than 10 percent sales tax each time they buy cookies, popcorn, soda or other snack foods if the Legislature approves a revised tax bill passed by a House committee late Monday.
The bill is a new version of the tax-shift legislation that the House Ways and Means Committee passed last week. The committee reworked the bill after Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn's office said it would not raise as much money as House leaders projected.
Under the new version, a 3 percent snack tax — which lawmakers included specifically to target obesity — would be added to the general sales tax charged for those items.
The House bill also raises the general state sales tax from 6.25 percent to 7.25 percent, which would be the highest state rate in the country, and slightly more than what was approved last week.
In addition, the bill calls for businesses to pay a payroll tax of 1.15 percent on each employee's salary, up to $90,000 per worker, which is also a slight increase from last week's proposal.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, said the tax would apply to any worker for whom an employer pays into the unemployment insurance system.
The House is considering the new and increased taxes to pay for a proposed one-third reduction in school property taxes as part of an overhaul of the way Texas pays for public schools.
Strayhorn had said the tax plan approved last week would take in about $1 billion less than what would be needed to pay for that property tax relief.
Keffer said he's confident the new version of the bill addresses Strayhorn's concern, as well as questions her office raised about how the bill should be interpreted.
"We've been working with the comptroller all day long," he said. "We are in agreement."
While some foods are exempt from sales taxes, the ones addressed in the snack tax have not been, he said. The new tax would apply to sales in stores but not restaurants.
Keffer said he expects the bill to come before the full House on Thursday. It will follow a major school reform bill that is up for debate today. The tax bill also calls for increases in the cigarette tax and the sales tax for autos and boats. It would expand the sales tax to cover bottled water, newspapers, billboard advertising and car washes and repairs.
All five Republicans on the committee and one Democrat voted for the revised bill.
Monday's events marked the second time in the last two regular legislative sessions that House Republicans had to tweak a major piece of legislation in a committee after the committee had voted on it.
In 2003, the House Civil Practices Committee had to reconsider a tort reform bill after Democrats complained the bill had been discussed at a meeting that wasn't properly announced in advance.
Also Monday, the head of the Senate Education Committee criticized the House school finance legislation because it does not specify where the state would find more than $3 billion in additional funding over the next two years.
"I think it's very difficult to just say we'll pass all this education reform, but we don't know where the money's coming from," said Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano.
"What if they only find $2 billion in scrubbing the budget instead of $3 billion?"
House Speaker Tom Craddick has said the new money for schools will come from savings in other parts of the state budget.
Some members of the House Appropriations Committee are reviewing the budget to look for ways to save that money.
Through a spokeswoman, House Public Education Committee Chairman Kent Grusendorf said, "I have been assured that when House Bill 2 passes, the money to fund House Bill 2 will be made available."
True or false? Made up numbers? Who are we to believe?
Cut spending? Are you crazy?
Alcohol taxes are already high!
Next? The thinkers.
Why not?
when are the farters going to be sued for jeopardizing people's health with second-hand gas ?
1. Breathing
2. Drinking
3. Sleeping
4. Thinking
5. Speaking
6. Sex
7. Living
8. Dying
Would they lie to us? ; )
GAAHH!! Thanks for reminding me! I got's to order more stuffin' stuff!
**Sorry I haven't been around lately. I was promoted (drafted, actually) into a higher position at work**
Yep
Sheesh, you're right. What could I possibly have been thinking.
I predicted this 5 years ago. Next will be the " thought police" who will fine you for what you were thinking.
When they are too spineless to cut spending, stick it to the fat foods and claim it's for our own good.
Those evil NASCAR beer guzzling dads.
In an article in today's San Antonio Express-News it says-
"The bill would create an additional "snack tax" of 3 percent that would apply to items including cookies, candy, chips and soft drinks.
The snack tax wouldn't apply to food or beverages consumed on the premises of establishments such as restaurants, said Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo.
He speculated about the discrepancy of charging a tax on a soft drink at the to-go window of a fast-food restaurant, for example, but not on the same item when it's bought at the counter.
"I guess you can drive up to the window and say, 'I'm just going to sit here until I finish my Coke,'" Smithee said."
Well....... THAT'S THE TICKET! I swear that I will pull into EVERY Drive-thru, get my Big Red, turn off the engine and just sit there and drink it on THEIR premises.
Then I'll start buying my smokes from BLUE states then wait until 2006 to Vote their sorry
BUTTS OUT!!
Heh! They would lie to their own mothers if they thought they could gain a buck!
Never heard of USDA Sex Stamps?? For epople too ugly to get laid on their own?
Hey! Congratulations! 
Glad you snapped out of it.
But unless they include an annual cap in the increase in property tax rate, you Texans will be right back where you started in just a few years.
Of course, they're hoping you don't notice that part.
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