Is your phone loaded up with apps that you once thought would be useful, but now just take up space on your screen?
Well, the State of Texas has a lot of tax breaks that once someone thought would be useful, but now just drain off tax dollars that could be used to support public education and other important public services.
Luckily, two state senators – John Carona, a Republican from Dallas, and Rodney Ellis, a Democrat from Houston – have filed a bill that would scrub the Tax Code of outmoded and wasteful tax breaks. Right now, the Legislature never regularly looks back at tax exemptions and special treatments to see if they are accomplishing what they were promised to do, if there is a better way to get to the same goal, or if they should just be totally repealed.
The state has a “sunset process” to examine each state agency every 12 years to check on whether they are carrying out their intended functions, whether they could be improved, or whether they should be allowed to “sunset” and go out of existence. The two Senators would apply a similar process to all the hidden tax breaks and special-interest incentives hidden across the state’s tax laws.
The Senators explain their proposal in the Dallas Morning News.
Their bill is SB 140. You can read the bill and follow its progress at here.
