Texas Governor Rick Perry Ready To Violate No New Taxes Pledge Already?

Texas Governor Rick Perry made a lot of promises he is probably regretting to get re-elected. It appears he may already be ready to violate a no new taxes pledge for instance.

Politicians are politicians are politicians. They will say anything to get re-elected, particularly when it comes to taxes. Historically, this has resulted in some humiliating moments such as when the first George Bush had to go back on his “read my lips” promise. Well, Texas Governor Rick Perry looks to be the next politician to face this flip-flop gauntlet.



Texas is a big state and has a big state government. As with many states, it is currently in financial straights to the tune of an $18 billion deficit. Given this, many are wondering how exactly the good Governor intends to deal with the issue without raising taxes and breaking his promise. Well, the answer that seems to be forming boils down to the question of “what is a new tax?”

What do states do when they need money fast? They raise the sales tax. Texas needs new revenues like most states. Given this, a bill is working its way through the state legislature that would raise an estimated $30 billion in new tax revenues, more than enough to cover the state deficit. The bill would accomplish this by applying sales tax to a host of new services and products such as tanning, tattooing and so on. The list is almost too long to read!

Now, there would appear to be a problem with this bill. What about the Governor’s promise of no new taxes? Well, the politicians are now arguing that these new sales taxes are not new taxes at all. No, they are simply removing an exemption that allowed the items on the list to forgo paying sales tax in the past.

Yeah, that’s the ticket.



These politicians would make former President Clinton smile. He was, after all, the man who answered a question by saying the answer depended on what the definition of the world “is” was! Politicians truly have no shame.

For his part, Governor Perry is “confident” there will be no need to raise new taxes. He has been oddly silent on the “remove the exemption” excuse. Is he a man of his word who doesn’t raise taxes or just a typical lying politician? Only time will tell.  

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