ColdTowne Theater
Running the Government on a Shoestring
RECEIVED Tue., June 16, 2009
Dear Editor,
Brady Bragg stated in his "Tax Revolt Time" letter printed in the June 12 issue [“Postmarks”] that property-tax payers in Florida "pay one-third of what you pay." The truth is that the average property tax rate in Florida is 7.4%, and in Texas the rate is 8.4%. The Floridians pay 88.1% as much property tax as we do, not 33.3%. The reason Florida can have this slightly lower property tax rate is that its sales-tax revenues export much of the state's tax burden to tourists.
I love the way those right-wing nuts make their points by backing them up with with misinformation.
As for Mr. Bragg's rant about his neighbor making $71,000 without having received a college education: I salute the neighbor for working his way up to manager level despite his lack of a college education. My guess is that he must be quite an excellent worker to have done that. He is probably underpaid relative to what he could be making in the private sector.
Texas is seventh from the bottom in property-tax rates among the 50 states. Maybe that is why we are so close to the bottom in so many measures of quality of life. Running the government on a shoestring has its consequences.
Brady Bragg stated in his "Tax Revolt Time" letter printed in the June 12 issue [“Postmarks”] that property-tax payers in Florida "pay one-third of what you pay." The truth is that the average property tax rate in Florida is 7.4%, and in Texas the rate is 8.4%. The Floridians pay 88.1% as much property tax as we do, not 33.3%. The reason Florida can have this slightly lower property tax rate is that its sales-tax revenues export much of the state's tax burden to tourists.
I love the way those right-wing nuts make their points by backing them up with with misinformation.
As for Mr. Bragg's rant about his neighbor making $71,000 without having received a college education: I salute the neighbor for working his way up to manager level despite his lack of a college education. My guess is that he must be quite an excellent worker to have done that. He is probably underpaid relative to what he could be making in the private sector.
Texas is seventh from the bottom in property-tax rates among the 50 states. Maybe that is why we are so close to the bottom in so many measures of quality of life. Running the government on a shoestring has its consequences.
Jerome Olson
