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 Alicia
Villarreal,
producer, Riviera-based Vamos Productions
‘With regards to film and direct entertainment media, I think there is something
we could pursue. It serves the city well to nurture up-and-coming production companies
and productions that would operate out of the South Texas area.’
 Kim
Sharp,
local handbag designer, part-time fashion merchandising student
‘We need one street of charming little stores in downtown Corpus Christi. Like
Galveston, they have that area where young people can have lunch, sit around and
shop. When somebody comes to Corpus, people will ask, ‘Do you have a place we
can eat, shop and spend all day?’ We don’t have that.’
 Cathy
Allan,
owner, Cool Cats Toy Museum; property management specialist at Naval Air Station
Corpus Christi
‘We need to come up with some kind of system that uses wind in South Texas to
create electrical power. Why can’t we build those windmills that generate electricity?
We have a lot of room and it’s so energy efficient with no pollution.’
 Justin
Colmenero, Tejano singer,
liberal arts student at Del Mar College
‘One of the things I have been talking to my parents about is how the business
areas of Corpus Christi should offer more internships to the students of South
Texas that are here at our local colleges so that they are not going off to other
big cities or up North to find employment - so they can stay here.’
 Anthony
Hernandez,
co-owner of Farm-to-Market Country Restaurant
‘As far as business is concerned, I think Corpus Christi and the Chamber of Commerce,
which would include the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, needs to get with small
businesses and brainstorm on how to improve their businesses and their surroundings.
There are many businesses in Corpus Christi that do not get recognized because
of their location.’
 Kevin
McCracken,
Merrill Lynch investment representative
‘We need to change our mindset from being anti-tourist. Prop 4 was an anti-tourist
initiative, not wanting people to be on our T-heads. It’s the flat-earth city
here in Corpus in some ways. (The attitude is) we don’t need people here. We need
to be a little progressive. It’s OK if more people come to town.’ |
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Paul Iverson/Caller-Times file
Three bills being proposed this session would freeze
municipal and county property taxes on schools such as Orange Grove High School
for senior citizens and disabled persons.
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Despite $9.9B deficit, lawmakers aren’t likely to raise taxes
Program cuts, cigarette tax expected to help balance budget
February 1, 2003
By Monica Wolfson
Scripps Howard Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - State legislators are unlikely to raise taxes to balance the budget in the 2003 session, despite recent dire economic news from State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, political observers say.
Strayhorn said the initial $5 billion deficit her office first calculated has almost doubled to $9.9 billion, due to rising Medicaid costs and a slowing economy.
The majority of tax-related bills filed since mid-November are for tax breaks rather than increases. So far, lawmakers have filed only two bills that proposed raising the cigarette tax between 50 cents and $1 a pack to fund law enforcement and health care-related programs. The Legislature is in session from Jan. 14 to June 2.
Tax-cutting proposals include:
Three bills that would freeze municipal and county school property taxes for senior citizens and disabled persons.
Exempting childcare facilities from property tax.
Repealing the state inheritance tax.
Exempting college and university textbooks from the sales tax.
"Philosophically, don’t expect Republicans to waste tax money, but if a bill costs too much money, they won’t pass it, either," said Bill Miller, a political consultant who most recently worked on the transition team for Republican Tom Craddick, who’s expected to be the next House speaker. "No tax cuts, but no tax increases either."
Program cuts, fee increases
Property tax cuts don’t affect state coffers directly, but they cut into revenue going to cities and counties.
"It comes out of somebody’s pocket," Miller said. "Then you get into the county and municipal governments will lobby against them. If you do that, you will bring on a whole new set of characters, who are astute and powerful in their own right."
To balance the budget, lawmakers will make deep program cuts and might raise user fees and some taxes such as on cigarettes, said Allan Saxe, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.
"I think what they really mean is no major tax increases," Saxe said. "They are writing off a sales tax increase or moving to a statewide property tax. But I think it’s inevitable they’ll raise some revenue."
Republicans will have a majority in the state Senate and House this year. Republican Gov. Rick Perry, Craddick and Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst have all been silent about which programs are on the chopping block.
Ways to raise money
The Center for Public Policy Priorities, a nonprofit organization that advocates for low- and middle-income Texans, identified several ways the state could raise up to $10 billion in additional revenue. Its suggestions included expanding the sales tax to lawyers, accountants and engineering services as well as extending the franchise tax to limited liability partnerships, which together could raise more than $8 billion.
Increasing the cigarette tax by $1 per pack, hiking the gasoline tax by 5 cents a gallon and tapping the Rainy Day fund would raise another $3.7 billion.
Eva DeLuna Castro, a budget and policy analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities, said she doesn’t believe legislators can cut much from the budget because Texas is 50th in the nation on state spending per capita.
"If we could, we would point to other states that spend less than us, but we can’t," DeLuna Castro said. "People point to Texas about what you don’t do on spending on services. We don’t know what the outcome would be on spending less on services because no one spends less than us."
Contact Monica Wolfson at (512) 334-6642 or wolfsonm@scripps.com.
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