State, Local tax deductions are vital to Houston. Chris Brown, HoustonChronicle.com ($$$)
It's hard to forward a plan that's going to bust the rev cap and allow Turner, Brown and company to raise property taxes on citizens until their eyes bleed when those damn feds are planning to take away the partial tax-credits that residents can use to off-set the increases.
Damn you Washington DC!!!
It's a reminder that all politics is local, and all politicians, either federal, State or local have one end-goal in mind: Increasing
Financially the City of Houston is broken, spending money like a young frat boy in Vegas on his 21st birthday while TIRZ and other "special purpose" districts go around painting sign posts unusual colors in order to brand neighborhoods. Meanwhile the city police and fire departments are woefully understaffed, the roads, despite Turner's pothole patrol, are in such a sad state 3rd world countries are pointing at us and laughing and the sewage/water system is so leaky we're probably losing almost as much water per year as we're using.
Of course, they passed the 'rain tax' which has accomplished.....pretty close to nothing, might run counter to the State Constitution and has been tied up in court proceedings since about 5 minutes after it passed.
Pensions are (still) a mess, ignoring what the courtiers in the media, and the politicians on whom they rely for patronage, might tell you. All Houston basically did was refinance $1 Billion of existing debt and shit-hammer the fire department pension for not going along. The system soon to be infused with cash, which will allow those that did the heavy lifting for Turner's campaign to walk-away with a nice little nest egg before they move on to private-sector jobs.
So how, in a time where decades of fiscal malfeasance are now coming home to roost, can the Federal Government stop accounting tricks designed to soften the blow of bad municipal and State policy?
Fairly easy it seems.
Because, as the folks on the left have been saying for years, elections have consequences. And if the other 'tribe' wins then it's reasonable to suggest that they're not going to pass or propose legislation that's going to make it easy for your 'tribe' to continue to cover up its warts.
This is agnostic as to whether or not the GOP tax plan is 'good' or 'bad' (hint: It's a start but, as is usual, doesn't go far enough) but solely a commentary on the piss-poor job of governing that the status-quo has provided Houston, and other cities, after several decades of what is basically one-party rule.
And, make no mistake about it, this is a bit of a problem for local leaders who have tied their version of a modern utopia to increasing taxes that are very burdensome to the working poor. Which has flummoxed poor Chris Brown.
I'm sure Mayor Turner is flummoxed as well, and probably angry, which seems to be his Modus Operendi when things don't go his way.
The problem is not a tax increase, it's just that the wrong tribe, and the wrong level of government, is proposing it. Don't be fooled, they want the money, they just want to have control over which level of patronage benefits from it.
Getting elected isn't cheap you understand.