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October 28, 2005
Casey Gets It Right
Kudos to Rick Casey in today's Chronicle for alerting Houstonians to what Council watchers have known for years -- a few Council Members would rather talk loud and mug for the cameras than make good public policy.
Earlier this week, Council approved a nominal cut of a quarter penny to the City property tax rate. While not a large cut, it is the latest in a series of good faith efforts at City Hall -- following last year's cut and the passage of Prop 1, which controls rate growth -- to get skyrocketing property taxes under control.
But thanks to the State Legislature, which has so distinguished itself over the last several years, Council had to declare it had raised taxes, despite the rate cut. Casey singles out the two Houston area Senators responsible for this required Council mea culpa, and reminds us that while municipalities are now forced to face the music with the public on tax issues, the Legislature has simply passed the buck on its own inability to do anything about taxes (or anything else important).
County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt also heaped blame on the City, despite the fact that the Republican-controlled County government sits on a huge surplus, and yet won't entertain a property tax reduction. City residents pay County taxes too, folks, but how many sheriff's deputies, new County parks and libraries, or road improvements do we see inside the City limits?
The problem here, and nationally, is that the GOP clings to decades-old rhetoric about "tax and spend" and "big government", despite the fact that under its watch government has never been bigger and deficits never higher. These guys never met a pork project they didn't like.
So, Ms. Wiseman, Mr. Bettencourt, Mr. Janek and Mr. Williams -- you go ahead and demagogue the tax issue all you like. But folks are getting wise to the credibility gap between your rhetoric and reality.
Posted by houtopia at October 28, 2005 02:30 PM