After reading a co-students article regarding her belief that the State of Texas should impose a state income tax I decided to do a little research of my own. I read an article that stated, “The Texas tax system transfers a higher share of income from the private to the public sector over time as income rises." My co-student’s main reasoning for imposing a state income tax is that she believes our system is regressive and that the state is not collecting enough money to support its citizens. After reading some facts and viewpoints of others I don’t agree with her opinion.
Texas has a high sales tax rate. Additionally, Texas has the second highest tax rate on properties. The money that is collected from the property taxes funds our educational system. My co-student claimed that a state income tax would “provide a better education” for its citizens. It seems to me that we are already supplying our state with the necessary funds for a “better” educational system. I believe the flaw that we should be fighting with our government about is what they are in fact doing with the money that they have been supplied. Just throwing more money at the problem is not a solution. That would be like giving a drug addict more drugs. We need to hold our government accountable to the promises that they make. More everyday citizens need to stand together and insist that “our” money be spent on the things we deem important… like education and health benefits.
It seems like most everyone is talking about the expected cuts in government funding of public schools and saying that we should not cut the funding, but not many are giving suggestions on how we could prevent that from happening. With this coming budget deficit there aren't too many options afforded to the government and even less money to go around. Obviously no one wants their programs cut and the lobbyists are hounding the current legislatures to gain support for their programs.
ReplyDeleteThe current Robin Hood plan spreads the school financing throughout the property-wealthy school districts and the property-poor school districts in order to keep school financing equitable. Megan Fisher believes that "we are already supplying our state with the necessary funds for a "better" educational system", while M.Sandoval believes "Texas should adopt a personal income tax". For most Texans the mere mention of a personal income tax incites anger and opposition and is a subject that would most likely destroy the career of any politician, but maybe it is about time to take a look at this option, especially for those who are demanding that public school funding not be cut. The only viable way I see to prevent cuts in public school financing is the increase revenue and the current Robin Hood plan has funded a large part public school finances, but public schools are still under funded. Megan thinks that the current plan provides enough funds for a "better" education system, but I contend that the property values across Texas have dropped therefore reducing the amount of property tax across the table to fund our school systems. As far as "better" goes, I think a bit more research and comparison needs to be done on your part. The Robin Hood system in Texas tries to finance schools in Texas equally, but the education is nowhere near equal from district to district. We Texans pride ourselves on southern hospitality, but when it comes to helping the less fortunate why are we getting stingy over a few more dollars out of each of our pockets?