If you thought Greg Abbott still didn't have enough explaining to do, I'd love to see how he tries to explain the position his party's candidate for state controller has taken on raising sales taxes.
The GOP's controller candidate, Glenn Hegar, has proposed jacking up our state's sales tax from 8.5 percent (at least here in Dallas County) to as much as 20 percent. So much for Republicans as conservative taxpayer's champions.
Here's an ad from the campaign of Hegar's Democratic opponent, Mike Collier, featuring Hegar's own words on his proposal:
https://www.youtube.com/...
More below.
Collier has done more than just present an ad with Hegar's own words. He also provided this fact sheet.
In addition, the Waco Tribune has also slammed Hegar's plan in this editorial.
Here's part of the Waco Tribune editorial:
One lesson immediately suggests itself in the ongoing dust-up between Republican and Democratic candidates for state comptroller: You should exercise care about rhetoric geared to gain applause or approval from a select group of voters; it may come back to haunt you. That situation has been dogging Republican state comptroller candidate Glenn Hegar ever since he told a tea party audience that he favors elimination of property taxes and simply hiking the sales tax.
Result: Democratic opponent Mike Collier has been getting unexpected traction by demonstrating that, to replace the nearly $45 billion raised for cities, counties and schools through property taxes, you’d have to raise the common state and local sales tax of 8.25 percent (which produces about $28 billion statewide) to somewhere between 20 and 25 percent. That means if you buy a $100 suit, you could pay $25 in taxes. Ouch!
To someone like me struggling to make ends meet, Hegar's proposal would spell financial disaster. It'd be the same for many folks who the GOP is fighting to keep from voting merely because they may not have the means to secure the documents needed to gain acceptable voter ID.
It also would mean that folks who find Texas to be an affordable place to live would be forced to leave instead of paying Hegar's tax. Texas, sad to say, would become the land of the rich that says to h--- with the poor and less well to do.
That is not the Texas my wife and I moved to just under 20 years ago. I'm very thankful that President Obama made it possible for us to achieve affordable health care coverage for both of us that Republicans are still fighting to take away from us.
I like how Mike Collier has taken the fight to Hegar on this matter. I hope other Democrats force their Republican counterparts to take sides on Hegar's tax. No amount of hiding behind surrogates and games of Etch-a-Sketch and rope-a-dope can shield Republicans from the electoral h--- that awaits them once folks become aware of what one of its candidates is proposing. The Republicans may try to masquerade as friends of Texas taxpayers, but this Hegar proposal makes the GOP's longtime claim what it really has been-- a total and complete lie.
For more on Mike Collier's campaign for Texas comptroller, check out his site:
http://www.collierfortexas.com/. I sure like the way he, like Wendy Davis, has put Republicans on the defensive.