Richard Raymond is right: City is raising "TAXES"

Last Year, Laredo state representative Richard Pena Raymond introduced HB 3435 during the 2011 Legislative session. The bill deals with "Honesty in State Taxation". Naturally, it should also apply to the city seedy. It would correctly label raises of fees, surcharges and assessments as TAXES.

With this in mind, it appears that both the city of Laredo and the county of Webb are planning to raise Taxes in the very near future.

The county's first public hearing regarding a proposed tax rate increase "remember, we're not raising taxes, just the tax rate" will be Monday, August 27th at 9am.

Richard Raymond's HB3435:

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1.  Subtitle A, Title 2, Tax Code, is amended by adding Chapter 102 to read as follows:

CHAPTER 102.  HONESTY IN STATE TAXATION

Sec. 102.001.  LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT.  The legislature finds that this (City) state has hidden from taxpayers the enactment and increase of state taxes by describing the taxes by other names such as "fees," "surcharges," "assessments," and "penalties."  It is the intent of the legislature to establish honesty in state taxation and to appropriately identify state taxes.