A Rational Tax Proposal

A recent email exchange with my advisor, David Hall, led to some thoughts on what is and ought to be a fair and rational taxation system for the State of Texas.

We agreed that a consumption tax is without question the fairest way to assess and collect taxes. If elected I would move to eliminate all other forms of taxation and propose an amendment to the Texas Constitution that would limit the tax to no more than 10%.

The State of Texas, indeed all governments should, can, and eventually must live within their means.  Ten percent, I believe, is a most reasonable number.  As the great Ray Stevens song says, “If 10 percent is good enough for Jesus, it oughta be enough for Uncle Sam,” or in this case the State of Texas. Even God only asked for 10%, and that is a great example for us, since people can only bear a reasonable burden.  We can do this by:

1. Eliminating so called “economic development” tax perks at the local and state levels. Since we would be eliminating all other taxes, those incentives would no longer by necessary since reducing the taxes for everyone will be incentive enough.
2. Releasing non-violent offenders from jails and prisons providing ankle bracelets and supervision. Violent offenders would remain incarcerated.  Releasing the non-violent offenders will reduce costs from $60 per day to $6 per day.
3. Eliminating expenses required to calculate, collect, and administer all other taxes.
4. Funding education through a voucher system where the money goes with the students rather than only to public schools, colleges, and universities.
5. Expanding toll roads with the provision that frontage roads have the same number of lanes as the toll way. Also, these must be created through limited use of eminent domain, and where this is not possible, a premium of 25 percent should be paid to property owners on top of fair market value.
6. Closing the loopholes in the sales tax except for food and medicine.
7. Establishing the 200 mile offshore limit instead of the current 10 mile limit for Texas.  This has the potential of increasing our offshore revenue more than 20 times.  Currently, other states have only a two mile limit with the exception of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico.

There are certainly other ideas for improving the Texas economy, and I welcome them, but I believe these would be some of the best places to start. What are your suggestions?