We have a serious problem, and I think we
all should be aware of it, and that
serious problem is the glaring reality
that these members of the state House
will be voting on a tax hike of some
kind this week because the
Senate's refusal to accept deep budget
cuts leaves no alternative other than
letting state checks bounce and ruin
the state's credit rating.
It is very frightening what can
happen if the state of Texas loses the
good bond rating.
So Today, show and tell time,
the speaker's own economist Darrell
Dawsey Roddy's charts to try
to convince House members who have been
staunchly against any tax hike
that a tax hike is the only way out
of this financial mess.
We've been bribed before, but now I'm
being bribed. I'm being told if I don't
pass a tax bill, the Senate's willing to
let go, let the checks
bounced, and I'm not willing to let that
happen.
That's why House Ways and Means Committee
Chairman Stan Slater today filed his
own tax hike bill.
It calls for an increase in the sales
tax hotel, motel tax and cigaret
tax, but will likely later
says in that being only a sales
tax hike of slightly more than a penny.