Texans weighed in on property tax cuts, cost-of-living adjustments for retired public school employees, the mandatory retirement age for judges and more during the Nov. 7 election.
Good list of everything that passed and by how much.
They don't think, and 82% of people don't vote. And if they do vote, they're going to the polls without any prior knowledge on what they're voting on. They enter the poll booth to read the proposal description for the first time and decide on the spot. Very few of us are reading guides and researching to read through the bullshit description to make sensible votes. Its a fucking joke and its by design for those in power.
Property taxes are based on home values which have doubled over the last ten years, this is just relief from that. People are being priced out of their homes right now. If there was a state income tax instead revenue would have fallen due to wages not keeping up with inflation.
revenue would have fallen due to wages not keeping up with inflation.
So you're saying that if we had an income tax, it would be in the government's interest to promote higher wages? That sounds like the opposite of a problem.
Proposition 7 will establish the Texas Energy Fund to finance the construction, maintenance and operation of electric facilities to ensure the state power grid remains reliable. The Public Utility Commission of Texas will oversee the fund.
That language is somewhat misleading. It'll only fund fossil fuel-burning electric facilities. I voted against it on that ground. The legislature could have made it applicable to all forms of power plant, but they just had to give their oil and gas cronies a handout.
Proposition 12 will eliminate the Galveston County Treasurer’s Office, with other county officials taking over the duties of the treasurer.
I'll be waiting for the major financial corruption story to come out of Galveston County in the next few years.
Proposition 3 will prevent people and entities from being taxed based on their assets, which is known as a wealth tax. Texas does not have any form of wealth taxes.
I just thought this one was stupid. Texas doesn't have a wealth tax. A wealth tax would never pass the Texas legislature. It would be vetoed by the governor if it did. It's like an constitutional amendment banning monsters under the bed.
The Galveston one is kind of interesting. The guy ran on eliminating the position. He's not taking the salary. There are several other counties that have gotten rid of the position. It reads like a department consolidation rather than a downsizing in terms of personnel.
I love the amendment that failed. Imagine being so full of yourself as the state Supreme Court chief justice that you try to change the constitution so you don’t have to retire. That shit happens in Russia.
Thank fuck that one failed. I think the backlash against all the aging politicians put the nails in the coffin of that one. I think something both sides can agree on is fuck these dinosaurs who can barely function sometimes.
That's wild that prop 10 passed. At least by a much smaller margin than the others, but still "let's exempt pharma companies from taxation on assets" is pretty gross as an amendment.