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« Back to Opinion & Analysis
Perry Should Repeal Business Tax
Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
May 06, 2008
Dear Fellow Conservative,
Greetings!
It is high time for the Republican leadership in Texas to confront the brutal facts: the party is in deep trouble and faces the distinct possibility of being resoundingly rejected by Texans in the upcoming General Elections in November.
A recent nationwide Wall Street Journal/NBC poll demonstrated that the Republican Party is viewed positively by only 27% of the populace. By comparison, the Democrat Party has a 44% positive rating. These numbers cannot be much different in the Lone Star State. In Texas, the bastion of Republicanism, the Democrat Primary Elections turned out nearly three times as many voters as the Republicans. This should be a clanging wake up call.
Politics is nothing more than a contract between elected officials and their supporters who put them in office. Political candidates make promises and based upon those promises supporters give them their votes. When the politicians break their promises, even if they keep
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Steven F. Hotze, MD
President, Conservative Republicans of Texas
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some of them, they have violated their contract and their supporters lose confidence. This translates into fewer votes in the next election and ultimately defeat at the polls.
Unfortunately, the Republicans broke their promise on taxes to the detriment of small business supporters.
The Republican Party is viewed by the average citizen as protecting corporate interests over small businesses. When Governor Perry pushed his Business Tax through the 2006 Special Legislative Session, he carved out all kinds of tax exemptions for the large corporations in order to gain their support.
The Perry Business Tax is the largest tax in the history of the state and was passed by the Republican controlled Texas Legislature. The tax took effect in 2007 but its payment was not due until this May. The business tax was so poorly drafted that the State Comptroller’s Office and the accounting firms can not understand it; the first payment has been postponed until June.
The Perry Business Tax, which passed with the help of the Texas House and Senate Republican leadership, is a state income tax which violates the Texas Constitution. Its constitutionality will be tested shortly in the courts after the first payments are made.
This tax hits small businesses and requires them to pay a tax which on average will be 10% of a business’ profit. This takes money out of the hands of businesses and pours it into the coffers of state government to grow its already bloated bureaucracies and create more entitlement programs. Businesses that lose money will still be required to pay a tax. Are the Republicans crazy? This will inevitably drive the small business person and his employees away from the Republicans into the open arms of the Democrats in November. Incredibly, the Democrats opposed the tax. Once the Democrats gain control you can be sure the business tax will be increased.
Perry and the Republicans should do the right thing and admit they did not understand the unintended consequences of this tax. Perry should call a Special Legislative Session this summer, amend his mistake, and repeal the Business Tax.
Contact Governor Perry at (512) 463-2000 and your legislators today, and ask them to call a Special Legislative Session this summer to repeal the Business Tax. You can find your legislators at www.conservativerepublicansoftexas.org under "Find Your Legislators."
Please forward this to your conservative friends.
Thanking you in advance for standing for conservative principles, I remain, as always,
Sincerely yours,
Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
President, Conservative Republicans of Texas
About Conservative Republicans of Texas
Steven F. Hotze, M.D. is president of Conservative Republicans of Texas and founder of Hotze Health & Wellness Center in Houston, Texas.
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