Debra Medina

[idrathernot]

The current property tax system, and temporary abatements, are tools which attracts businesses and create jobs.
She may state she wants to eliminate progressive taxes, but increasing regressive taxes isn't the way to accomplish her stated goals. If she doesn't like the current system where everyone is taxed fairly upon a set percentage of their assets, she should come up with her own plan which is fair, instead of relying on one funded by the persons standing to benefit, the big businesses. I have nothing against her or her stated goals, I don't care for her methods devised by those getting benefits to our detriment. If she comes up with her own plan. I'd listen.

It is equally possible to use sales tax incentives to lure business as it is property taxes and removing property tax is a pretty large incentive in of itself. The current system is anything but "fair" or "a set percentage" and pales in comparison to a flat rate which everyone can plan for and anticipate equally based on use. Unless you can tell me how to collect that extra "income" I'm taxed on when the value of my home rises? In addition, it is a tax that applies to all constituents not just a demographic minority and therefore much more costly to raise politically. I suppose I will acknowledge that the "poor" will pay marginally more than they otherwise would under a "progressive" tax if we acknowledge that the overwhelming majority of the tax burden does not fall on the oh-so-downtrodden and destitute "poor". According to the Internal Revenue Service for 2007:

Top 1% of income earners defined as persons making over $410,096/year paid 40.42% of Federal Personal Income Tax.
Top 5% of income earners defined as persons making over $160,041/year paid 60.63% of Federal Personal Income Tax.
Top 10% of income earners defined as persons making over $113,018/year paid 71.22% of Federal Personal Income Tax.
Bottom 50% of income earners defined as persons making less than $32,879/year paid 2.89% of Federal Personal Income Tax.

(important to note here that "persons" is defined as a entity filing a tax return, that could be an individual, family, or business)

This model simply can not sustain itself. A broad base usage tax leaves the capitol in the hands of those that produce it, and should they CHOOSE to spend they are paying a mathematically (truly) equal share. Additionally, we may leave existing exemptions for sales tax in place for essential goods and services such as food, water, medicine, etc to marginalize any tax increase on the "poor".

[pbwalker]

Top 1% of income earners defined as persons making over $410,096/year paid 40.42% of Federal Personal Income Tax.
Top 5% of income earners defined as persons making over $160,041/year paid 60.63% of Federal Personal Income Tax.
Top 10% of income earners defined as persons making over $113,018/year paid 71.22% of Federal Personal Income Tax.
Bottom 50% of income earners defined as persons making less than $32,879/year paid 2.89% of Federal Personal Income Tax.

And the thing that annoys me is that some people this this is fair...you are essentially punishing people for doing right.

[Rex B]

...and the very bottom wage earners pay "Negative Income Tax" aka Federal Welfare

[Dragonfighter]

I have an issue with that too, and it is simpler to solve than her proposed give rich benefits while increasing burdens on less fortunate.

One solution would simply be to add a Constitutional Amendment or law that exempts property from being confiscated .... much like Credit Card creditors etc can't take your property for non-payment.

What about liens. They may not be able to kick you to the curb under that system, but you are still "renting" your property from the state. With the exception of a couple of successful suits based on the common law, every Texan pays taxes based on the assessor's valuation, sometimes on land owned for generations.


The question has been raised about Medina's qualifications. From the Texas Constitution, Article IV, Section 4:

SEC. 4. The governor shall be installed on the first Tuesday after the organization of the Legislature, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and shall hold his office for the term of two years, or until his successor shall be duly installed. He shall be at least thirty years of age, a citizen of the United States, and shall have resided in this State at least five years immediately preceding his election.

I don't see a military pre-requisite, nor do I see there is an educational or experience credential. The ideal being anyone the people want can be elected providing they meet this criteria. Is electing someone on ideals wrong?

I'm voting for Rick Perry because I want Rick Perry as Governor. I find it interesting when people with opposing views and who support unelectable candidates resort to the erroneous claims that voting for [fill in the blank] is voting for "the lesser of two evils."

(em added)

Charles I hold the utmost respect for you and can not quantify the appreciation I have for this venue and your hard work with the legislature. I have gone back over the thread and do not see the "insults" you alluded to, maybe I'm oblivious, but I do see passion in my own and others' responses and you are no exception. Passion is good IMHO.

I must take exception though when what is arguably a grass roots candidate is called "fringe" and "unelectable". Fringe because of what? A desire to restore a minimal and constitutional government apart from the "business as usual"? Unelectable, why? Because she is not entrenched, polished or funded by huge contributions?

I also take exception to the opinion we should vote for somebody, based on an endorsement on a single issue. As I said earlier, we have a perfect storm, we have an attitude (which I share) that the government has run amok on all levels AND we have people stepping up that, though untried, have specific beliefs and ideas that can heal this cancer. We can chose to chip away through the usual channels or we can work to rebuild in line with what the founders had in mind. We can chose to work with in the convention or become unconventional.

A note about Rick Perry:

I have sat at his feet and heard him speak. I like him. He was military and a pilot, cool points. He is without a doubt an advocate for CHL and even has said in response to the question of metal detectors at the capitol, "CHL in the hands of our citizens is all the security we need." or words to that effect. He is also pro life with exceptions for rape and incest and has repeatedly signed legislation friendly to home educators. My property taxes lowered under his watch. But...

HPV
He did mandate the HPV vaccine, a product pushed by Merck that has dubious efficacy and has proven dangerous (even deadly) for some. Appeals to conscientious objection does not mitigate the blatant disregard for parents' rights to make health care choices for their children. I know from personal experience the option is:
1) Not accepted by all schools, churches etc.
2) Is a complicated process that has to renewed every two years AND
3) Flags you for harassment by ERs, physicians and other agencies through ImmTrac.

Anytime a "health" measure is instituted by executive order, the right to choice is curtailed (notice I didn't say eliminated) and the vendor benefits. I thank God that both sides of the house and senate heard the people and overwhelmingly killed the measure.

Imminent Domain

I do not believe anyone can debate on a reasonable level the Governor's support for taking land to further pet projects like the "corridor". He appointed commissions that were unaccountable to voters that allowed public ROWs to be re-purposed as tollways. Anyone who has had the pleasure of mailing in "checks" that covered the toll plus "fees" knows that foreign (and I don't mean Oklahoma) interests profit and will continue to profit from the contracts to build and manage these tollways. There are more but less obvious examples of imminent domain being used beyond its intent at best, abused at worst.

Home Education

I appreciate the Governor's willingness to sign legislation that lifts burdens on home educators. But as a home educator there is a fly in the ointment. Governor Perry has known of discriminate treatment by UIL, Corporate reward programs for students/educators and admissions standards in colleges and universities including A&M.
The state law for admissions is simply that a student pass their entrance examinations. A HS diploma or even GED is not necessary, this is good. However, many schools demand higher test scores and tuition for home schooled studentrs that have a diploma that is not "accredited" or heaven forbid none at all. UIL excludes home schooled students almost universally. There are corporate reward programs that operate in Texas that benefit educators and students, the home educated is excluded of course.
The governor has received several entreaties from home school organizations and families to take a leadership role in correcting this inequality. I can not think of a single home school family that would take money from the government or welcome their involvement in our lives. But we would appreciate a level playing field.
The Irony is that the federal government has shown more proactive approaches with home school days and lock ins at NASA recruiting bonuses in the services, etc.

Concluding:

The declaration of independence lists fundamental truths, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

I am an absolute advocate for the sanctity of life, especially the innocent. The trauma of that life's creation (rape and incest) does not diminish the value of the growing life in the womb (and yes I have faced this in close proximity) so allowing for destruction of life that is created under those circumstances is to deprive that person of the unalienable right to life.

The right to keep and bear arms is an absolute right and necessary to the preservation of liberty. The will to sacrifice all is the vanguard of liberty. I enjoy the CHL but the requirement of a CHL before I can arm AND carry is an infringement. We may disagree on the best course to an absolute RKBA but it is an infringement as a requirement.

The pursuit of happiness starts with my right to steward the children God lent me as I see fit. To chose not to let them feed an out of control pharmaceutical machine by repeatedly assaulting their formative immune systems with dangerous vaccines of dubious efficacy. Are all pharmaceutical creations bad? I could not assert that, but I should be able to make decisions in the best interest of my family and raise them without subjecting them to state sanctioned indoctrination. Then there is being able to expand and grow, to obtain property.

So here it is:

Life: Perry - A Medina-A+
Liberty: Perry - A Medina - A+
Pursuit of Happiness: Perry - C+ to B- Medina - A+

Could I deal with Perry? Yes. But as long as I have a vote, I will vote according to my conscience and as long as I live in the United States of America I will not marginalize a candidate based on marketability. I'm done , if and when the other campaigns deem my inquiry worthy of a response, Ill post those and my thoughts.

[RPB]

I have an issue with that too, and it is simpler to solve than her proposed give rich benefits while increasing burdens on less fortunate.

One solution would simply be to add a Constitutional Amendment or law that exempts property from being confiscated .... much like Credit Card creditors etc can't take your property for non-payment.

What about liens. They may not be able to kick you to the curb under that system, but you are still "renting" your property from the state. With the exception of a couple of successful suits based on the common law, every Texan pays taxes based on the assessor's valuation, sometimes on land owned for generations.

You and I do agree on several points.

You addressed only the top part of my post, per the rule of optional completion, I'll post the rest.

Lots of ways can be implimented to protect property. And recovering from the poor what they owed, without burdening the rich.
Example: Medicaid may pay a person's Nursing home, Long term at home care, or Hospice care bills, but they can't take your house .... after you pass away though, they get repaid from the estate through MERP (Medicaid Estate Recovery Program) but meanwhile, you aren't homeless due to non-payment.

Liens won't work, they'd hinder transfer of property when a person needs to move. Estate Recovery wouldn't. PROPERTY TAX LIENS will be a thing of the past.

As I already stated, if a constitutional amendment or law were passed prohibiting the confiscation/foreclosure of a homestead due to non-payment of property taxes, there's no need for anyone to file any tax liens as there will be no way to foreclose on a tax lien.

Yes you are still free to have a roof replaced and the company place a Mechanics and Materialmens lien .... you are free to do that, that's your choice, but there's no reason for an unenforceable tax lien.

Yes the FEDERAL Gov't I.R.S. could still take your property if you fail to pay your income tax, but on a State+Local level there's no reason for anyone to even file an unenforceable tax lien, since they couldn't foreclose on it anyway.

An Estate Recovery Program like MERP utilizes filing a claim against the estate, rather than a lien against the property.

That's just one idea. But since the sink is broken, we can fix the sink. There's no reason to tear down the whole house to fix the sink.

I suppose another solution would be .... and I'm just brainstorming here .... is for people to actually pay what they owe, whether it is to the roofer who did put a lien on the house, or the government. And to live within their means. If someone can't affod tax and maintanance and repairs on a 5 million dollar house, then downsize to a 2 million dollar house.

Still, no matter what, your still essentially renting from the Federal Gov't since they can take your property due to unpaid taxes..... I don't like that either, but that's a horse of a different color.

[5thGenTexan]

I've got to say I have not fallen in love with any of the canidates out there for Gov. It's kind of like dating there's acouple on my dance card I have reservations with Ricks attitude on TTC and toll roads in general. If you want to build roads suck it up and raise the gas tax. Don't make me send my "tax" to some foreign corporation. If they can build it and make a profit at a buck and a half a mile why can't your highway commision build it and break even at a buck a mile over 10 years to pay the bonds off.

Those of you in the rural areas may be tickled with your property taxes and "local control" but I have serious issues with the methodology of implementation as practiced by the Tarrant Appraisal District, when you buy a house during a period of falling prices you don't expect to have to go appeal an appraisal 6 months later showing a 30% increase in value over what you paid. However I'm not sold on the concept of changing to a total reliance on sales or consumption tax either since it would tend to foster people crossing state lines to shop much like they do now to gamble in our neighboring states, sorry Deb but I have some questions there that need some answers.

Kay sweetie just gracefully retire.

Bill stay in Houston.

Farek I think you should stick to your hair care empire.

Since the Texas Govenor has very little real power, I could live with either Rick or Debra. If it's a runoff on the Republican side between them best for all, I hope Debra's support puts the fear of the people in Ricky.

[RPB]

5thGenTexan ............ I like the way you perceive things and word things

Let's get rid of all of them and vote Charles in.

As you stated ...
"However I'm not sold on the concept of changing to a total reliance on sales or consumption tax either since it would tend to foster people crossing state lines to shop much like they do now to gamble in our neighboring states"

True ...
Won't everyone just buy everything but groceries from Indiana over the internet and avoid the state and local sales and use tax they are supposed to pay? FedEx and U.P.S. will have to hire more drivers/sorters etc, Local and State Sales Tax revenues would decrease. Now if enough people shopped out of State for the tax savings, obviously sales here decrease, local Texas businesses would need fewer salespeople, stockers, cashiers etc so they lay them off. Those unemployed workers now aren't spending much money locally either so the businesses they would have patronized now need fewer employees and lay some off .......

[5thGenTexan]

RPB

Unfortunately there is no such thing as an Independent politician due to the obcene costs of mounting a campaign, and there is no such thing a perfect tax with all the "special interests" including my own.

[RPB]

RPB

Unfortunately there is no such thing as an Independent politician due to the obcene costs of mounting a campaign, and there is no such thing a perfect tax with all the "special interests" including my own.

Ok, that does it ... I'm moving to Utopia.... oh wait, thats a city in Texas still.

[Marty Graw]

Will a property tax fan explain what half these are? What benefit to the public? I understand the first few but then it looks like more and more excuses to redistribute wealth like P-lousy and O-bummer.
http://www.hcad.org/resources/jurlist.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RPB]

Will a property tax fan explain what half these are? What benefit to the public? I understand the first few but then it looks like more and more excuses to redistribute wealth like P-lousy and O-bummer.
http://www.hcad.org/resources/jurlist.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well, you mean school districts/MUDS/PUDS/Flood Control/Emergency Services Districts?

MUDS/PUDs are utility districts that the people who voluntarily subjected themselves to them and receive services from them voted to create, we don't have one nor want one, but some areas created one, like some areas created a Flood Control District to control flooding, we don't have one nor want one, but some areas created one, Emergency Services Districts are to raise funds for EMS Fire etc, we don't have one nor want one, but some areas voted and created one to service their local area.

We, (my city) decided not to vote for creating any of those and instead have a place on our utility bills where we can donate extra dollar or few for FIRE/EMS services if we so choose to voluntarily do so..... But those people wanting to create those districts in those areas of Harris County voted to do so to obtain those services provided. It's like Metro .... Pasadena voted NOT to add an extra 1% sales tax, because they chose NOT to have Houston busses run there, other cities voted to pay Metro/MTA because they wanted those services. A ranch owner last year desired to create a MUD for water rights near Marble Falls Texas, the people voted against it, so there is no MUD taxing utility district in Marble Falls.. That link is to a list of districts for various areas within Harris County, for the various services they provide that the voters wanted in those particular areas, so they voted to create them.

Like one city there, I don't recall if it's Galena Park or Jacinto City or what, but they voted to create an Emergency Services District taxing entity to pay for amulances. If you are in a wreck in that city, your ambulance ride etc is free, paid for by the residents there that voted to do it and be taxed for it. I recall almost going crazy attempting to get them to send a bill for a personal injury case, so they could get paid by the negligent party who caused the injuries and their expenses, I informed them that our client wasn't even a resident of their city and had never paid into that Tax District fund, but they insisted that there was no charge. In my city, the ambulance sends you a bill which you turn over to your health insurance and they pay it, so I don't know why they voted for that, but that's their local decision and right.

[wgoforth]

Here's whats in todays paper:

By The Associated Press

Posted: Feb 13, 2010 4:12 AM

HOUSTON (AP) -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina is continuing to backpedal from remarks that she has questions whether the U.S. government was involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Medina said Friday she blames the stumble and subsequent firestorm on a "coordinated attack" from the campaigns of her GOP rivals, Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. In response to a question Thursday from syndicated talk show host Glenn Beck, Medina said there were "some very good arguments" raised that the U.S. was involved in the attacks. She later released a statement changing her stance. Perry spokesman Mark Miner says her accusation isn't true. Hutchison campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Baker didn't immediately return a call.


I really do not understand it. I was leaning towards her. I also listen to Beck almost daily. He is a libertarian so he was sympathetic towards her. When he announced he was having her, he got letters from people who claimed she was a "truther." So he asked. He didn't accuse (at first) he asked...twice. First time she evaded. Second time she said there are unanswered things. On her website she completely disavowed the 9/11 Truthers. Why couldn't she have done that on his show. Had she simply said "I believe Muslim terrorists brought down the world trade center" it would have been a non-issue. I am wondering perhaps she didn't know what a "9/11 Truther" was, and rather than admit that, she gave non-answers. Once she got off the program, she learned and then disavowed it. Either way, she has really hurt herself in this.

[TLynnHughes]

I really do not understand it. I was leaning towards her. I also listen to Beck almost daily. He is a libertarian so he was sympathetic towards her. When he announced he was having her, he got letters from people who claimed she was a "truther." So he asked. He didn't accuse (at first) he asked...twice. First time she evaded. Second time she said there are unanswered things. On her website she completely disavowed the 9/11 Truthers. Why couldn't she have done that on his show. Had she simply said "I believe Muslim terrorists brought down the world trade center" it would have been a non-issue. I am wondering perhaps she didn't know what a "9/11 Truther" was, and rather than admit that, she gave non-answers. Once she got off the program, she learned and then disavowed it. Either way, she has really hurt herself in this.

In my opinion, it is her inexperience that caused this "issue" and I'm worried about what issues her inexperience will cause if she should be elected. I've been listening to her and I agree with some of what she has to say, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I keep linking her inexperience to Obama's inexperience. Because of that, I cannot commit to vote for her for governor.

T.

[pbwalker]

I'm curious if everyone who is Anti-Medina are also Anti-Palin...

[Charles L. Cotton]

I'm curious if everyone who is Anti-Medina are also Anti-Palin...

Do you mean former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin v. former Wharton County Republican Chairwoman Debra Medina? This is an apples to oranges comparison.

BTW, I'm not anti-Medina, I just don't support her for Texas Governor.

Chas.