Vote Recommendation | Economic Freedom | Property Rights | Personal Responsibility | Limited Government | Individual Liberty |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yes | Neutral | Positive | Neutral | Positive | Neutral |
Summary: HB 1133 would make cable television, internet access, and telecommunications services eligible for a refund of taxes levied on the sale, lease, use, rental or storage or other consumption of tangible personal property used in providing services.
Analysis: HB 1133 requires Texas to give tax dollars back to these service providers. This gives back some of the property taken from these businesses and limits the amount of dollars available for government. Taking money from the government and returning it to the private sector in a non-redistributive way does serve to limit government. Our reservation with this bill is that, like many other tax cuts, it is targeted to a specific industry rather than taking a comprehensive approach that makes taxes broad based and low rate. Despite our reservations about the method, this does represent a clear limiting of government. Vote “yes,” on HB 1133 because it promotes property rights and limits government.