You have to admit it, Rick Perry is right about at least one thing: new taxes would “sour the Texas economy.” With the national economy in the tank, and Texas still comparatively well-off, legislators will have to work hard to keep the state out of California-like insolvency that occurs when legislators try to tax and spend themselves into prosperity.
While the rest of the nation lost 1.1 million jobs, Texas gained 250,000. But Texas’ unemployment numbers have risen, and the temptation from lawmakers will be to spend the budget surplus rather than leave those dollars in the rainy-day fund or return them to.
In an commentary in the Dallas Morning News earlier this week signed by Perry, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick, the three note “business owners are increasingly drawn to our state’s low taxes, sensible regulatory climate and a legal system that protects them from frivolous lawsuits.”
