04.26.06
My Thoughts On Monday And Beyond
Sorry for not posts yesterday, I had something come up and couldn’t be near a computer.
We knew nothing could pass without some Democratic support and that was the case. I can only assume that Strama and Howard voted with the R’s because they need the cover in November. For blow by blow coverage and more be sure and see these two posts from Capitol Annex, (here and here). Off The Kuff has a great where we stand post. In the post he hints at a sales tax hike to come in the regular session:
Yep, it’s a tax shift. Perry and Craddick tried and failed to swap sales taxes for property taxes last year, and this year they succeeded with the TTRC tax. Anyone want to guess where the inevitable shortfall for school finance will be made up down the line? I’ll give you a hint: it rhymes with “Tales Max”.
And look at my post from the CCCP blogger teleconference a couple of weeks ago where they said Sharp said that a teacher pay raise will be paid for with a half cent raise in the sales tax.
What the Republicans are trying to do is untie the property tax cut from school finance. Once they get the property tax cut they all want they will use the most regressive tax around, sales, and tie it to a teacher pay raise. Then they’ll try to show Democrats as against teacher’s because they will not pass a teacher pay raise because they are against raising taxes on the poor.
Here’s what wasn’t addressed in the House on Monday.
Lt. Gov. Dewhurst is still non-committal.
Matt tells us that the Senate Bribe Is In Full Effect. Again what this shows is that adding a one time $2,000 pay raise for teachers will be used to bribe folks into either voting for the proposal or being portrayed as being against teachers. With teacher pay in Texas being almost $6,700/year below the national average, not to mention what they took away from them in benefits a couple of years ago, this is a slap in the face to teachers.