Good morning, 

Tomorrow is election day! Several times this last month the Texas Minute has been devoted to the 10 constitutional amendment propositions on which voters will be deciding. 

Today focuses on just one.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Monday, November 4, 2019
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• In the end-of-week rush I managed to neglect wishing a happy birthday on Friday to our East Texas correspondent, Reagan Reed!
   
• Visit our website to see Texans for Fiscal Responsibility’s recommendations on the constitutional propositions. There you can download a printable reference guide to take to your polling location.

• Proposition 4 would further prohibit the implementation of an income tax in Texas.
     
• Yes, there is already a roundabout prohibition in the state constitution, but it is a tad flaky. The language was crafted and inserted by Democrats in 1993 with an eye towards future implementation.
      
• A statewide poll by the University of Texas earlier this year found 71 percent of Texans oppose an income tax to fund public education. Ironically, public-ed labor unions and political groups – including the AFL-CIO’s Texas American Federation of Teachers and the Texas State Teachers Association – are actively opposing Proposition 4. Why? They want to impose an income tax. 
      
• Also opposing Prop 4 are leftwing, Democrat-supporting newspapers like the Dallas Morning News, the Austin American-Statesman, and the Houston Chronicle.
       
• Some (Democrats) have (falsely) suggested an income tax could reduce our property taxes, but the other “high property tax” states all have income taxes.
     
• As Ross Kecseg noted in 2016, “On average, ‘no-income tax’ states impose roughly identical property tax bills on homeowners when compared to the average among states with a personal income tax.”
      
• In other words, imposing a state income tax will only see Texans with high property taxes and a sales tax and an income tax.
      
• Property taxes will be reduced only when spending is reduced, and not a moment sooner. Taxes will not go down by creating or expanding taxes. No one should ever believe in the tax-swap fairy.
         
• As the Texas Public Policy Foundation reported in their 2019-2020 Guide to the Issues: “Income taxes substantially damage a state’s economy because they disincentivize savings, investment, productivity, job creation, and economic expansion.”
    
• The language of Proposition 4 requires voters to cast a ballot “FOR” prohibiting an income tax. The language is wonky, and some have said it is confusing to them. (Frankly, the wording is a reminder why lawyers should be kept away from public office.)
     
• NOTE: If you vote against Prop 4, you will signal support for a future income tax. That would be bad for Texas.
   
• By voting FOR Prop 4, you will make it harder for future lawmakers to impose an income tax.