Texas mulls "Twinkie tax", stealth income tax to balance budget

Citizens obsess so much on national politics that state and local governments often sneak outrageous ideas into law before anybody notices something is up.

Texas, to its credit, is trying to provide some property tax relief. However, according to the Austin American-Statesman (registration required), state comptroller Carole Strayhorn says that the resulting revenue shortfall will be $3 billion, and that this must be made up by cutting spending or by finding alternate revenue sources.

Will anybody be surprised to hear that they gave up trying to cut spending? This is not a tax relief bill, it's a tax shift bill.

If the current bill becomes law, property owners will see their property tax bill go down, but they will end up paying more taxes in other ways -- ways that would probably spark a citizen revolt if they were better publicized. Here are three of the more egregious provisions:

1. A one-point increase in the state sales tax, from 6.25% to 7.25%, which would give Texas the highest sales tax rate in the country.
2. A 3% sales surtax on snack foods (cookies, chips, candy, soft drinks, etc.), for social-engineering purposes ("to target obesity"). This sets a very bad precedent which I believe would inevitably lead to additional politically-motivated taxes.
3. An income tax. No, they didn't call it an income tax, but that's what it is. The bill calls for "a payroll tax of 1.15 percent on each employee's salary, up to $90,000 per worker".

Before someone protests that the proposed payroll tax is a tax on the employer, not on the employee, answer this question:

What effect will this tax have on the money available for salaries?
(a) it will have no effect on the money available for salaries
(b) it will decrease the money available for salaries
(c) it will increase the money available for salaries

I threw option (c) in there just for fun. It's obvious that this proposed tax will be based on salary, and that it will affect the take-home pay of the employee. So let's call it what it is: an income tax. (The same applies to the "employer-paid" portion of your Social Security and Medicare taxes)

And don't be so naïve as to think that the tax will remain at 1.15%.

Conservative Republicans once held to the notion that the government can't be all things to all people. It seems like the Republican-controlled government of Texas is going to try anyway.