Tax Plans On To Senate: Highway To The Danger Zone

You might think it’s a good thing that the Senate will get the chance to tinker with House Bills 1-4 (and, eventually, 5). But, the fact is, we’re riding a fast bus down the highway to the danger zone one the Senate starts its tinkering:

“Our version will have education improvements in it,” said state Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, a member of the Senate’s special committee on public school finance. “I think we’re on course.”

Why is this dangerous? Because the Senate, in its infinate, Dewhurst-led wisdom, will very likely modify these bills significantly and, per their promise, add to them “improvement reforms:”

“Our focus should always be on improvement, on taking a student further along than anyone expected he or she could go,” said state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee.

Yes, the call is limited to the tax plan, but, as I mentioned earlier, and as Dewhurst himself notes, there is the possibility the call was written in just such a way that other measures can be mixed in:

But Dewhurst and several senators said they believe they can deliver legislation that achieves both a tax overhaul and an education package. Doing less would be a deal-breaker for state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas.

“The fact is, I can’t support just a property-tax-cut bill,” West said. “I know the people in my district want property tax cuts. But the same people that want property tax cuts, they think that providing more money for education is more important than property tax cuts.”

The fact is that the Senate will attempt to tie education “reforms,” (vouchers?) and most likely, a teacher pay raise, to the largest tax hikes in Texas history.

This is a disaster for Republicans and Democrats, believe it or not. It’s “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”

If they add the teacher pay raise to the tax bills, and Legislators continue to show their disdain for the bills as they have in the House voting, anyone who votes against these tax bills with the teacher pay raise will be branded as voting against the teacher pay raise and will incur the wrath of one of the state’s most powerful lobbies: education.

Doing this piece by piece was a disaster to begin with. But, the failure of the governor to allow the House to address comprehensive reforms that include both tax reform and education reform has opened the door to piggyback good reforms upon bad legislation, creating a trap for legislators, especially Democrats.

My guess is that Sen. Florence Shapiro will be the one to tag the tax packages with the pay raise. And, once that’s done, it’s all going down the tubes in a hurry.

It’s going to be a tough decision for anyone to vote against a teacher pay raise, no matter what kind of bad legislation it is tied to. At this point, it could be tied to school vouchers and a lot of people would have to hold their nose when voting.

HBs 2-4 are a disaster, period. No matter what kind of makeup the Senate puts on them, they’ll still be the ugly transvestite at the prom in a Wal-Mart dress that they truly are. [no offense to transvestites intended]

Because Perry made the call as narrow as he did, and Craddick forced the House into rules that wouldn’t allow people like Rep. Jim Dunnam to add things to the bills that would have made them better, now the Senate’s going to try and play the role of Education Savior and attempt to give teachers what they need, want and deserve.

BUT, it is the equivelant of putting a $5,000 sound system in a beat up old Chevy. It makes no sense, at this point. It’s too late in the game to tie good reforms to bad bills.

Those who want to challenge the actual meaning of the call should, in bills separate and apart from the five tax bills. Otherwise, the Lege is stuck with voting for the biggest tax hikes in Texas history, or voting against a teacher pay raise in one single vote. Bad, bad, bad news.

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