Long recognized as the loudest opponent of taxpayer rights and conservative reforms in the state capitol, the Texas Municipal League have become masters of hiding their grow-government agenda behind the language of “local control.” Oh, they want local control… for bureaucrats, but with fewer taxpayer-friendly protections.
TML’s current legislative agenda opposes any reforms to the state’s property tax laws — except those that make property taxes higher or more burdensome. They oppose limits on how high property taxes can rise year to year. They also want to expand the sales tax, and to give city councils more options on what they can tax (presumably without voter approval).
Don’t get me wrong, not everything TML advocates is bad… just a lot of it. And they use your money to promote their anti-taxpayer agenda, lobbying legislators with taxes your city council collects from your pocket!
TML is always on the hunt for new ways to dig even deeper into your wallet.
My colleague and friend Peggy Venable, state policy director of Americans for Prosperity, pointed out from her Twitter account this funny little gem in TML’s laundry list of legislative priorities this morning:
“apply hotel occupancy taxes to RV parks, except for stays longer than 30 days.”
Hotel occupancy, on an RV park? This might come as a shock, but an RV park isn’t a hotel. Indeed, it’s a parking place. The things usually associated with a hotel—an uncomfortable bed, ratty sofa and fussy faucet—those things are inside the vehicle that parks in the spot but moves along.
As Peggy tweeted, “Seems their motto is ‘if it moves, tax it'”.
Given that Peggy is a former Reagan Administration appointee, it should not be surprising that her words echo one of my favorite Reagan quotes — which seems so applicable to the TML legislative agenda.
“Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
