2/28/05

Peggy Venable (left) and Texas Rep. Carl Isett (right) speak in front of the Texas capitol.

AUSTIN -- The Texas chapter of Americans for Prosperity today launched a new "Texans for TABOR" grassroots movement to help build support for a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights amendment in the Lone Star State.

AFP-Texas Director Peggy Venable made the announcement at a news conference in front of the State Capitol in Austin. Joining her were dozens of AFP grassroots leaders who arrived in Austin Saturday for AFP's Grassroots Training School. State Rep. Carl Isett (R-Lubbock), who recently introduced legislation to create a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights amendment, participated in the news conference.

"Across America, the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights movement has been driven by citizens like those represented by the leaders with us today -- people who want greater control over spending and who are demanding some restraint in how politicians spend taxpayers' hard-earned tax dollars," Venable said. "Representative Isett has been leader on this issue in the legislature, championing tax and expenditure limit legislation since his first session in 1996. We look forward to mobilizing a grassroots army in support of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights amendment here in Texas."

A Taxpayer's Bill of Rights is a state constitutional amendment that would limit the annual growth in government. Under a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, state expenditures could not grow faster than the rate of annual population growth plus inflation. Surplus state revenue above this amount would accrue in a budget stabilization fund and a portion would be returned to taxpayers in lowering state property taxes. Tax increases or spending above the amount of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights limit would require voter approval.

The Americans for Prosperity Foundation recently released a report showing that if Texas had implemented a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights in the early 1990s, the state would have amassed $10.9 billion in surpluses since 1991 and the largest budget shortfall would have been less than $2 billion -- a fraction of the recent shortfall that created a major budget crisis in the state. The study also found that Texas taxpayers would have received $4.7 billion in tax relief and rebates, and that $5.4 billion would have been invested in a budget stabilization fund to better handle revenue shortfalls.