Whole Lotta Flip-Floppin' Goin' On

HoustonChronicle.com - Property tax cut debate starts late

Yeah, well ... at least it's not major, serious issues that Republican officials are flip-flopping over as the Texas State Senate twists and turns to pass their version of HB3:

Lite Guv Dewey on the sales tax he was against before he was for:

At the same time, Dewhurst unsettled Democrats on Friday when he said there is nothing "mystical" about keeping any sales tax hike at a half cent, though he opposed the penny increase adopted by the House. Democrats worried that would give the House an upper hand in conference committee negotiations.

Is a tax on partnerships the same as an income tax? the Republican Lite Guv and Attorney General say no ... the Republican physician representing the Medical Senator (aka - my State Sen. Kyle Janek) sez "Oh hell yeah it is" ... or words to that effect:

That tax became the biggest sticking point in the bill because it would include partnerships, particularly those run by professionals such as doctors or lawyers or architects.

Ogden said during the regular legislative session Attorney General Greg Abbott gave the Senate leadership an informal opinion that a tax on a business partnership as an entity is not an income tax banned by the state Constitution.

But Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, was poised with an amendment to Ogden's bill to remove the partnership tax.

"We've got to recognize that 'I am my business. If you tax my business income, you're taxing my income.' That's what they're telling me back home," said Janek, a doctor whose district includes the Medical Center.

"This isn't a doctor issue," he said. "This is as much about lawyers and accountants, engineers, architects and landscapers and other people, the profit of whose business is their income."

Dewhurst was firm that the expanded partnership tax was being misinterpreted.

The running toteboard from Harvey Kronberg gives us the following:

The Austin A-S tries to make heads or tails of the conclusion, which was a 19-10 vote that moved the bill on to a final vote in the Senate:

Despite the changes, which left the measure resembling the plan touted by Perry more than the one hailed by Senate leaders, Dewhurst was upbeat.

"I think this is a victory . . . a big victory," he told reporters late Sunday. "I'm a little frustrated that we can't achieve as much as we wanted to, but we moved the ball a long way today ? and that's a victory."

Or, put another way - "I think it's a major victory that, after voting against what I said I was for yesterday and ending up with a bill that contains ideas I find antithetical to everything I held near and dear a few hours ago, we moved the ball a long way today."

Or, put visually:

Sidenote: Dewhurst is back in Houston today at the Petroleum Club, with John McCain (aka - bane of the far right). Normally, I'd love to go just to take in a live McCain gig. But I'm pretty sure the above Photoshop work just did in any hope of finagling an invite to the PC.