Posted on 05/10/2005 8:06:01 AM PDT by ArmyBratproud
Texas Freepers, It looks like we have one last chance to stop the payroll tax issue.
It is time for a Texas Tax Revolt!!!! (Make a phone call. E-Mails will just fall by the wayside)
As you have already heard in the news, the State Senate's version has a payroll tax in it. And unlike the House version, which makes the payroll tax "optional (we all know that just opens the door to make is full time), the Senate version looks to be mandated.
The following e-mail was sent to me, and it reminded me of something that every Texan should be doing. URGING EVERY ONE THEY KNOW TO CALL THEIR STATE SENATOR AND TELL THEM THAT THEY WILL NOT STAND FOR A STATE PAYROLL TAX.
I urge you all to get the word out to everyone you know. Tell the State Senate Republicans that if they are going to act like Democrats, then we'll replace them with Real Republicans in the primaries.
There are plenty who want to run against the current elected. They know, due to the tax push, that they have a chance.
Here is the body of the e-mail that is going around from one group of folks-
RE: Senate version of H.B. 3 (the tax bill) Okay everybody, here's the deal: H.B. 3 (the tax bill) came roaring out of the Senate Finance Committee on Friday afternoon and it is set for Senate debate tomorrow, May 10. It is not an easy document to get, but a quick and dirty reading this morning tells us that the bill: (1) would expand the franchise tax in all the usual ways to bring in every business entity other than a sole proprietorship (not new) (2) would establish the following formula for calculation of the franchise tax net profit + 15% of gross payroll x 4%. (Gross payroll determined according to page 1, line 1 of IRS form 940) UNLESS the constitutional amendment enacting a new statewide property tax is actually adopted by the people. In which case the payroll component would be based on 25% of gross payroll rather than 15%. (3) would increase the motor vehicle sales tax (and the general sales tax) rate from 6.25% to 6.5 % UNLESS the constitutional amendment enacting a new statewide property tax is actually adopted by the people. In which case the rate for both sales taxes would be increased to 6.75%. (4) would establish the presumed value tax. In committee, the votes were: Those FOR H.B. 3(i.e. the ones who voted AGAINST dealers and your employees) Steve Ogden (College Station) Judith Zaffirini (Laredo) Kip Averitt (Waco) Kim Brimer (Arlington) Robert Duncan (Lubbock) Kyle Janek (Houston) Florence Shapiro (Plano) Todd Staples (Palestine/Conroe) Royce West (Dallas) John Whitmire (Houston Tommy Willians (Conroe/Woodlands/Beaumont) Those (heroes) AGAINST H.B. 3 (i.e. the ones who voted FOR dealers and your employees) Gonzalo Barrientos (Austin) Bob Deuell (Greenville) Jane Nelson (Denton) Eliot Shapleigh (El Paso) This is bad. It is bad because it contains the jobs tax component that is simply not good for dealers, your employees, your customers, or for Texas. And remember, this is only the beginning. Once this baby gets on the books, all they have to do is ramp up the jobs tax rate any time they "need" more $$$. SO, for those of you who haven't yet done so, NOW IS YOUR MOMENT! Call your senator. Email your senator. (List attached) Let him/her know how you feel about this jobs tax component. Your message is simple: it will cost your employees their benefits, and in some cases you will have to lay off employees. This is anti-jobs and makes no sense in our current economy. Vote NO on H.B. 3. Be sure to identify yourself, your dealership, and how many employees will lose their jobs because of this vote. It doesn't matter where you are or the characteristics of your dealership: EVERY SENATOR SHOULD HEAR FROM DEALER S TODAY!!!!! Time is short and things down here are getting pretty weird. So please do not hesitate to call today. They will, listen.
Sorry I was on yahoo setting my teams for the race this weekend.
Yes the house/senate have passed it and it's up to perry now.
phone # is listed up the thread for a toll free call to tell him what you think.
I called yesterday and the lady that amwered the phone sounded tired and like she had hear what I said about a gazillion times already and that was at 12:30.
HAHAHAHA!!
At least he voted against it. Better than mine did.
amwered=answered
What's wrong with them is that they've got big political contributors in business who want their local property taxes lowered, and who want the cost pushed off onto individual taxpayers through a payroll tax, as a standin for a state income tax. They've been working on this for 13 years, ever since the late Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby got all the newspapers to go along with a drumbeating campaign for "tax reform" ( = "state income tax"). The idea lost badly then, but now the money boys are back and they want what they paid up front for. They want their taxes lowered, they want service with a smile, and they want it right this minute.
That's what's going on. Cost reduction for business by putting it off on someone else who can't fight back because they don't have senators -- they've all been bought up.
Like Kyle Janek and Florence Shapiro and the rest of the Business Lobby RiNO's.
The very last people that people like that will listen to is voters who don't have $100,000,000 in the bank.
A lot of them are Phil Gramm clones. Especially Kyle Janek -- he is the worst of both worlds.
Florence I don't know about -- you people up in Dallas, tell me about her. But I'm getting vibrations that she's been the spearpoint in this, all along. She's the person -- she and Dewhurst -- that the business people went to, to get them what they want.
That will work too.
So has this passed ?!?!?!?
They've been after this for quite a while .... some of them, the lobbyists, going all the way back to 1991 and the big campaign back then for a "tax structure overhaul" to "make taxes fairer" (higher), and whatever else they were talking about back then.
And with multibillion-dollar boondoggles like Gov. Rick's supertrain on the back burner, you know that that is what they want to spend it on, not more DPS troopers or probation officers or jail bunks -- something people could get behind.
Please remove me from your ping list.
Dave
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