The free money now flowing from your great-grand-children’s credit cards into the coffers of state government will cost the state 131,400 jobs — or so says a report issued yesterday by the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Experience shows increased government spending reduces private sector output. This latest round of debt-financed “stimulus” will undoubtedly do likewise.
Unfortunately, those dollars are already being spent. Wishing them away won’t change it. So now the challenge is to make other reforms that will hopefully counteract, and positively overwhelm, the effects.
I heard Michael Quinn Sullivan speak last night in Grand Prairie and here is what I took from his speech…
First, we have to implement strict spending limits on all levels of government — at a maximum the rate of population-plus-inflation.
Second, we have to work toward a rapid reduction — and eventual elimination — of the property tax. Texas has the 7th highest property tax burden in the nation, driven by the out-of-control spending by local government and primarily schools.
Third, we should eliminate the Gross Margins Tax. While the stimulus dollars will work against private sector employment, eliminating the business tax will go a long way in freeing capital to ensure employment and investment growth.
In the TPPF press release, Talmadge Heflin said it right: “The best way to reduce unemployment is to create jobs, and the best way to create jobs is to allow businesses to keep a greater share of their revenues so they can invest and expand.”
