Today, I sent the following message to the Texas Association of Business Board Officers and Government Affairs Members (6). This is basically the same message I’ve sent to the Texas Association of Realtors… tailored a bit for their own self-interests, naturally.
As I did my research, it was interesting to find connections between their team and TREPAC members on LinkedIn. Imaging that… PACs working together.
Next up,… make the same request to the entire Texas Legislature.No Relief. No Reform. #EliminatePropertyTax
From: Russell Bennett <eliminatepropertytax@icloud.com>Subject: Meeting Request: Eliminate Property Tax in TexasDate: August 15, 2019 at 5:25:22 PM CDTTo: Board Members of Texas Association of Business Mr. Moseley,What if we could eliminate property tax in Texas without raising taxes on sales or businesses?What would happen if every business had 50% more budget to spend when buying property? Would they buy more land, a bigger commercial facility or make capital improvements?That’s about what the average purchase will include in property tax. Equivalent to about 50% of the mortgage payment.What would happen if Texas became the first state without a property tax? What if we eliminate franchise tax, too? Would businesses relocate here like there was a gold rush? Would millions of job seekers do the same?In recent economic studies, the Texas Public Policy Foundation estimated that just the pro-growth effects of eliminating property tax would, in five years, create up to $63 Billion in personal income and 337,400 new jobs in Texas.Instead, we keep trying to patch our perpetual property tax problems with “relief and reform” schemes.Ever since the nationwide property tax revolts of the Great Depression, legislators have tried to appease property owners using relief and reform. It’s never worked. Property tax keeps rising. You know trying the same thing over and over is futile. You know it will never produce a different result.But here’s the most important reasons why we must eliminate property tax.– Because private property ownership is central to a free society.– Because property taxed is not owned at all.– Because no tax should have the power to take your property.That’s why in the spring 2018 primary, 68% of Texas voters passed Proposition One to “replace the property tax system with an appropriate consumption tax equivalent.”That’s why during the summer 2018 convention, 94% of 8,000 Texas Republican Party delegates voted to “abolish property tax.”That’s why, for the last 10 years, the Republican Party of Texas Platform resolved to “replace the property tax system….”So, why aren’t we talking about how we eliminate property tax?People are angry everywhere across our country over outrageous increases in property tax and the corruption it fosters. But more and more Texans are starting to understand, the increasing theft and misuse of our money is NOT the primary problem. It’s the civil tyranny and unconstitutional violation of our natural right to own our private property.And that’s why, over two years ago, I founded the non-partisan Texas activist group “Eliminate Property Tax” to advocate for a bill that will finally emancipate all Texas property owners.Eliminating property tax is not a hallucination. There are entire nations that run their governments without it. Texas can, too. But unlike the past demands to do this, we’re not handing our Legislature the problem and telling them, “Fix it!”We’re presenting a solution. Our bill is the only comprehensive solution ever proposed to our Legislature. And it’s a solution that secures both our liberty and our property while still helping Texas prosper.In summary, here’s what it does.“Abolish 60+ taxes (including property, franchise and sales tax) and replace them all with a 7% consumption tax.”This is not adding “another new tax” or increasing existing ones. Instead, it enables the Texas tax system to use a simple, efficient, consumption-based tax.On the simplest, macro-level, here’s how it works.We need $80B to replace all revenue our bill would abolish. Texas GDP is $1.6T. A tax rate of 7% on the whole economy would capture $112B. Assuming we exempt 25%, the net is $84B. That’s more than enough.Our bill resulted from economist/attorney Rick Cunningham’s search for a solution to replace property tax. But in his pursuit, Rick found nothing “that looked in detail at every taxing jurisdiction of the state.” So, he did his own study to find out “what does the picture look like if you tried to tinker with sales tax?” He concluded that by using sales tax, “there was no way… to do a wholesale replacement of the property tax.”That led Rick to ask, “What would happen if instead of looking at what we have and trying to figure out how we fix it, suppose we didn’t have anything?”Using that approach, he started with three key objectives.1. Generate sufficient revenues to fund the government the electorate has chosen.2. Distribute taxes equitably so all taxpayers bear a reasonable, fair share.3. Create an efficient and transparent collection process.Rick concluded that only a value-added tax best meets all the criteria (at an acceptable rate to everyone). And unlike anything before, this 224-page bill was based on Rick’s in-depth, 159-page fiscal analysis.In 2013, our bill was sponsored in the House. It was the only such bill to pass through the Ways & Means Committee, the Legislative Budget Board and Legislative Counsel for review. Unfortunately, time ran out, the 83rd session ended, and it was shelved with no one returning to carry it forward.Before this last session, we re-introduced it to every member of the House and the Senate. Rick and I met with several legislators, but as the session began to get fully underway, we delayed further meetings.Out of those contacts, we met with staff of one Democrat Senator and one Republican Representative, both with long tenures, who were interested in sponsorship. Now that the interim has begun, we’re following up to discuss this with them in more depth. At the same time, we’ll invite our other legislators to become co-sponsors.As much as anyone, Texas businesses are stakeholders in property rights, too. That’s why Rick and I would like to meet with you. We’d like to listen to your thoughts on property tax, share more information about his research and discuss our solution.Feel free to contact me to make a meeting. I’ll be happy to help.Thx.Russell J BennettEliminate Property Tax(713) 568-6266EliminatePropertyTax@iCloud.comwww.EliminatePropertytTax.comP.S. You know Texans want to eliminate property tax so they can actually “own” what they’ve bought. But as long as we have property tax, that never happens. Our Governor agrees.“Property tax itself is unfair. Any amount. What it boils down to is, the government owns it, not you. Period!!!!!… That’s why I’m trying to shift from a property tax system to a consumption tax system, so you control what you pay.” – Greg Abbott, 14 April 2019That’s why I’m writing your Board Officers and Government Affairs Members. We have a comprehensive solution that does exactly that. Let’s meet to discuss it.