Enjoy the Rich, Soak the Rest

Tory Gattis offered interesting commentary on a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed titled, “Soak the Rich, Lose the Rich.”

The opinion piece’s main assertion is that high taxes states have suffered from a mass relocation to no-income tax states such as our own Texas. Gattis adds, “Texas created more new jobs in 2008 than all other 49 states combined.”

Sounds great right? I have qualms with the op-ed’s argument. While I do concur that high-tax states like California at one extreme hurt their constituency … the same occurs in low-tax states like Texas.

Extremes are never practical and although Texas may have the correct approach on how to increase jobs … it is falling behind in other categories.

Let me make it clear … I am not advocating or endorsing California’s policy. In fact, I believe it is detrimental to their people since businesses and people relocate due to the higher taxes.

At the same time though, let us not turn a blind eye to the shortcomings that this Texas model has fueled.

Here in Texas we can boast about creating more jobs in 2008 then any other state but let’s look at figures that should shame us.

• #49 in verbal SAT scores (Window on State Government)
• #46 in average math SAT scores
• #33 in the nation in teacher salaries
• Out of Texas’ 145 public and private higher education institutions, only one private institution, Rice University, ranked among the nation’s top 50.
• #36 in High school graduation rate
• #35 in percentage of population 25 years or older with a bachelor’s degree or higher
• #41 ranking on Healthcare including but not limited to including access, quality, cost, insurance, preventive care, potentially avoidable hospital visits, and premature death before age 75 (WebMD)
• #49 in overall performance of its health care system (Dallas News)
• #49 in residents covered by health insurance
• #2 in residents not-covered by health insurance
• #7 in residents living below poverty (South Carolina Statistical Abstract)
• #43 in highway spending per capita (Renewing Texas Infrastructure)

While I could dedicate an extensive post into every aspect that we have shortcomings in, the same can be done about what we excel at. At the end of the day, I just want to talk my fellow Texans down. We must analyze the implications that certain statistics entail.

One can argue that low taxes are wonderful but at what cost ... more importantly, are we willing to live in that type of environment?