Texas: A Government Below and Beyond

Texas. Just hearing the word makes me proud. When I think of Texas, I think of a strong state. I think of a state that stands above and beyond the rest. However, after reading the report "Texas on the Brink Ð'- How Texas Rates Among the 50 States," I realize that we might not stand proud for long.

Texas rates 49th out of 50 states in tax revenue raised. This is causing and will cause enormous problems for Texas if the issue is not addressed. Even though most Texans are thrilled to see that they pay less tax than do most states, they need to understand that's because Texas has the second most regressive tax structure in the nation. Poverty-stricken families pay an average of fourteen percent of their income into taxes compared to the national average of twelve percent. One way to help fix the problem is to restructure our taxing system. There are many ways to do this. First is to increase the state sales tax. However, many will not support this, since Texas already has one of the highest sales tax rates in the nation, as well as Texas' traditionalistic/individualistic anti-government attitude. Another option is to begin a personal income tax. Due to a Texas constitutional amendment, voters must approve a law for personal income tax. Again, this will probably never happen, because of anti-government attitudes. If our per capita tax revenue does not improve, then based on the "Texas In 2030" report, Texas will not have enough money to pay for the increasing number of welfare recipients.

Texas also ranks among the lowest in total tax expenditures, including education, health, welfare, highways, and prisons. This will definitely have a poor effect on Texas as our population increases. Spending has remained at approximately the same rates in the last decade. As Texas' population increases, the spending should increase as well. Texas would have to increase taxes in order to have the money to increase their spending. However, Texans are not likely to go for the big changes because they do not like government interferences. If state spending does not increase with the population increase, then Texas schools will begin to see reduced state funding, leading to a higher dropout rate. Welfare benefits will decrease as more people qualify for it because there are fewer high school graduates. Our prison population will increase because of substandard education and reduced welfare benefits; many people will look toward crime to supply the needs of their families.

Most of the per capita spending on government services is at or very near the bottom of the national scale. Texas ranks at the very bottom of spending for government administration. Water quality, state art agencies, parks and recreation, and environmental protection are near the bottom as well. Spending on police protection and education rate slightly better than the other areas. Even though education is one of Texas' highest tax expenditures, the state's per student spending has actually decreased over the years because of population increases. This creates an even greater burden on local school districts that have to foot a larger share of the costs than do most states' school districts. Because of the state's constitution, Texas government is forbidden to spend more than one percent of the state's budget on welfare. This is definitely going to be a problem as the population increases. As population increases then more of the state's budget will need to go toward welfare spending. However, without the ability to raise tax dollars, there will not be enough money in the budget to allow this.

Public safety is the fourth largest expense in Texas. This is primarily because of court decisions passed to reduce prison overcrowding. The state was fortunate enough to have voters support a constitutional amendment that would allow the state to borrow money to build new prisons, finance water developments, and create new structures at universities. Until Texans are willing to change their anti-government points of view, it is doubtful that Texas will alter its taxing, and therefore spending, habits.

According to the "Texas on the Brink" report, our rankings in the different education areas are also among the lowest in the nation. We are at the very bottom of the scale when it comes to the high school graduation rate. Texas' SAT scores ranks 48th out of 50. The majority of Texas teachers are not certified to teach the subjects they are teaching. Here, Texas ranks 45th. We are at number 39 out of 50 when it comes to state aid per pupil. However, we are at the nation's average when it comes to adults with a bachelor's degree. Texas ranks 25 out of 50. The teacher's salaries are a bit below the national average coming at number 39. Many of these ratings are contributed to the fact that we are ranked number 11 when it comes to the percentage of low-income students in public schools. Less and less of the state's money is going to fund our schools. Therefore, local school districts have to foot more of the bill. I believe that if the state would put more money into our public school systems rather than higher education, Texas would see a higher high school graduation rate and thus, more students will be more likely to go to college to get their degrees. Unfortunately, due to Texans' political beliefs as well as the cultural beliefs of the many minorities that live in Texas, things will be difficult to change. According to the "Texas in 2030", if our educational policies do not change, then the percentage of students without a high school diploma will increase from 26.1% in 1990 to 35.3% in 2030. This will also cause the rate of people who get a bachelor degree to go from 28.6% to 24.4%. Due to the lack of people without an adequate education, more people will have to turn to welfare and crime to support their families.

According to the report, Texas is first in child population growth. We are also ranked number one for the number of uninsured children. We rate number four when it comes to our percentage of children living in poverty and in the sixth percentile of two-year olds who are not immunized. We also rank near the very bottom, 48 out of 50, when it comes to the state's spending on child protection. This is appalling. If the government were to put more money into our children and their futures, other rankings, such as education and the number of people on welfare, might improve as well. Of course, this would mean that the voters in Texas would have to approve more taxes and more government spending. History has shown time and time again that Texans believe in giving yourself your own hand up and not to rely on anyone else. It is highly unlikely that voters would allow this to go through.

Again,