By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief
If Gov. Greg Abbott has proven one thing over the past two terms of his tenure in office, it’s that his record on issues like municipal taxes and spending is beyond awful. And Abbott is continuing to flaunt his terrible record less than two months before Republican primary voters head to the polls in the race for governor.
This week, Abbott unveiled a new campaign promise, billed as his “Taxpayer Bill of Rights.” The proposal by Abbott includes a generic promise to reduce school district taxes, as well as promises to allow a reduction in property valuations for taxpayers buying a home at less than the appraised price. One promise included in Abbott’s proposal, however, is what should be causing Texas Republicans to have serious doubts about his ability to actually deliver any kind of meaningful tax relief.
According to Abbott’s plan, his proposal to reduce local government debt is as follows: “Require local government debt be passed by a two-thirds supermajority of the local governing body, and local bond issues not included on the November ballot to pass by a two-thirds supermajority of voters.”
That sounds wonderful, except it does absolutely nothing to address the ever-growing mountain of debt being placed on the backs of Texas taxpayers by their elected officials.
In cities across this state, taxpayers are seeing unanimous votes as their elected officials pile on the debt. Even in Amarillo, we regularly experience unanimous City Council votes and have just recently gained a contrarian to the debt crisis in the form of City Councilman Cole Stanley. Still, even if Stanley voted against issuing debt, as long as the other four members of the City Council vote to issue the debt — which they always do — then taxpayers will again be stuck with even more debt placed on their backs by their elected officials.
Additionally, on the bond issue point of Abbott’s proposal, this point effectively incentivizes cities to issue debt without taxpayer approval. After all, why would the Amarillo City Council send a bond to the ballot that could fail to gain the support of a two-thirds majority of voters when they know that they already have their built-in supermajority on the City Council, ready to issue debt without taxpayer approval?
If Abbott’s proposal did pass, Amarillo’s municipal government would probably look a lot more like Potter County. Debt, debt, and more debt, but none of it will ever appear on the ballot. There’s a reason that Potter County never calls bond elections anymore — it’s because they know bond elections are risky, but they don’t need to call such an election when they can issue debt without taxpayer approval and nothing will ever happen to stop them. Just ask Nancy Tanner.
The truth is the debt and tax epidemic in this state is not exclusive to Amarillo; it’s happening all over Texas. And with Gov. Abbott doing nothing to address the ever-growing mountain of debt in this state caused by cities and counties issuing debt without taxpayer approval, there never will be any relief for taxpayers.
If Abbott was serious about helping taxpayers, he would make it one of his top priorities to cap the amount of debt that government entities in Texas can issue without taxpayer approval. He isn’t interested in doing that, however, because he is only interested in winning re-election and furthering his political career. Why help taxpayers out when you can make no real promises to do anything and win re-election that way?
Republican primary voters need to see beyond Abbott’s flashy faux tough talking conservatism and see his record for what it really is — the record of a mediocre Republican who is willing to let cities and counties tax residents out of their homes as long as he keeps getting re-elected. I know a lot of Republican voters like Gov. Abbott, but on the issue of taxes, they need to see him for what he is: a total fraud.
Luckily, Texas Republicans have several good options on the ballot this year who are serious about addressing property taxes. Chad Prather has made mention of several places where government money is being wasted as a way for Texas’ state and local governments to tighten their belts. And Don Huffines has unveiled perhaps the most detailed plan of any of the state’s gubernatorial candidates on providing serious relief to property taxpayers in our state. Huffines’ record isn’t just a collection of empty promises; it’s backed up by a record of fiscal conservatism unrivaled by any of the candidates for governor.
So, when voters read Abbott’s “Taxpayer Bill of Rights,” they need to see it for what it is: a collection of empty promises made by the same governor who has allowed cities and counties to run roughshod over Texans for the past eight years without doing much at all to provide any real relief to struggling taxpayers.
If that’s too much for taxpayers — and I believe it should be — then it’s time to take a stand and elect a new conservative governor who will fight for lower taxes. Taxpayers need relief in Texas, not another batch of false promises by a governor who isn’t going to deliver on property tax relief anyway.
Primary Election Day is March 1. Get out and vote…for someone other than Greg Abbott.