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(Axios)   Texas has a tough decision about how to spend its $32B surplus on its citizens. Here's a hint from Subby: Electric grid   (axios.com) divider line
    More: Interesting, Austin, Texas, Make It Rain, Property tax, Tax, The Texas Tribune, Dallas, Government, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick  
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1248 clicks; posted to Politics » on 27 Jan 2023 at 10:17 PM (7 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



81 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest


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2023-01-27 8:42:01 PM  
My guess? Gigantic catapults or trebuchets that will launch approaching immigrants all the way to Nantucket.
 
2023-01-27 8:45:35 PM  
Tax cuts it is.

Wut? No income tax?

Tax cuts for business it is.

No business income tax?

Gotta cut something dammit. How about the franchise tax?
 
2023-01-27 9:07:41 PM  
Police and football gonna get it
 
2023-01-27 9:58:41 PM  
Why yes, Subby, they would spend $32 billion to improve the electrical grid of Texas, but only to make it more easily exploited as to fark over its cu$tomer$ even more than they do now.
 
2023-01-27 10:17:58 PM  
More ways to oppress queer people? Being Nazis can get expensive.
 
2023-01-27 10:19:53 PM  
It's amazing how much money you can save when you cut needed services to the most vulnerable of your population.
 
2023-01-27 10:21:05 PM  
Silly subby. You know it's going to go into the pockets of the grift-ligargchs and won't benefit the people of the state in any way.
 
2023-01-27 10:21:40 PM  
The latest: Texas leaders are already piping in with some ideas for what to do with the historic surplus.

Abbott pledged to provide the largest property tax cut in state history. (Provided you're white and Christian)

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants to raise the annual homestead exemption from $40,000 to $70,000, reducing the amount on which homeowners must pay property taxes. (See above)

Texas public university leaders are seeking nearly $1 billion toward higher education in exchange for holding tuition flat for two years, per the Texas Tribune. (LOL, no)

Meanwhile, the Texas State Teachers Association wants some of the money to go toward schools, teachers' pay and retirement. (See above)
 
2023-01-27 10:21:58 PM  
Or a really biatchin' wheelchair!
 
2023-01-27 10:22:34 PM  
It's easy to have a surplus when cutting non-essential things like Education, Healthcare, Social Assistance, or Energy.
 
2023-01-27 10:23:36 PM  

Ishkur: It's easy to have a surplus when cutting non-essential things like Education, Healthcare, Social Assistance, or Energy.


I was about to ask how the hell they got a surplus, being a deep red state and all that.
 
2023-01-27 10:24:18 PM  
Monorail?
 
2023-01-27 10:25:35 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size

This induced audible laughter
 
2023-01-27 10:26:06 PM  
Where does Texas get most of this income? Sales tax. And guess what income groups pay most of those sales taxes?
 
2023-01-27 10:26:51 PM  
I'm gonna bet on handout to private schools, churches, prisons, child prisons, and cops
 
2023-01-27 10:26:58 PM  

CptnSpldng: Monorail?


Considering their track record? It's plausible.
 
2023-01-27 10:27:47 PM  
"citizens" LOL
 
2023-01-27 10:28:20 PM  

Pointy Tail of Satan: Where does Texas get most of this income? Sales tax. And guess what income groups pay most of those sales taxes?


do you think rich people pay taxes in other states?
 
2023-01-27 10:28:42 PM  
16 miles of border wall.
 
2023-01-27 10:29:37 PM  
Anti-library efforts.  Cause books be evul!  EVUL!
 
2023-01-27 10:30:27 PM  
Fix the power grid? Where's the grift and cruelty in that??
 
2023-01-27 10:31:11 PM  

Palined Parenthood: [Fark user image 850x506]
This induced audible laughter


Is it possible to make an F250 train? Because then you might get some buy-in and ridership.
 
2023-01-27 10:32:51 PM  

New Rising Sun: Palined Parenthood: [Fark user image 850x506]
This induced audible laughter

Is it possible to make an F250 train? Because then you might get some buy-in and ridership.


Fark user imageView Full Size


That concept already flopped. Not enough smog, horns, or metal ball sacks is my guess.
 
2023-01-27 10:32:59 PM  

2wolves: Anti-library efforts.  Cause books be evul!  EVUL!


Two birds with one stone: force the libraries to provide all texas residents with a stack of books that they can burn to keep warm when the power system fails them...again.
 
2023-01-27 10:33:55 PM  
This has got to be a mistake, when does the Republican run start ever have a surplus?
 
2023-01-27 10:36:40 PM  
"Hookers and blow for an ENTIRE YEAR, fellas! Yee-ha!"
 
2023-01-27 10:38:14 PM  

Stoker: This has got to be a mistake, when does the Republican run start ever have a surplus?


Austin exploded. It happened despite the insanely corrupt state govt, not because of it.
 
2023-01-27 10:39:27 PM  
I'd throw a biatchin' party. $38B? Imagine all the strippers and coke you can get with that.
 
2023-01-27 10:39:46 PM  

FatherChaos: "Hookers and blow for an ENTIRE YEAR, fellas! Yee-ha!"


*shakes tiny fist*
 
2023-01-27 10:42:44 PM  
Guns for everyone
 
2023-01-27 10:46:17 PM  

Karma Chameleon: Guns for everyone


Guns for those in power, bullets for everyone else.
 
2023-01-27 10:48:33 PM  
Electric Grid improvements are probably immune because, well, where is the fun in that?  We all know Good Texans are of the bootstrappy-rugged-individualist sort, so why not dupe them into helping reduce the strain on the Grid and eventually enrich the lives of us all at the same time?

It is my position a $32 billion rollout of these babies would instantaneously result in a paradigm shift.  A rural setting would once again be cool, mass shootings would sharply decline (duels would take place on private land, away from population centers), and the ten gallon hat market would skyrocket.  There would be a steep increase in cool band names trying to one-up "Segways in Texas."  Those newly formed bands would not only practice, but also perform, on the spacious porches on every property.  It would be a statewide block party (with built-in social distancing) inevitably leading to spontaneous discoveries.  Republicans would subsequently fully support funding the arts, creativity would blossom and what a wonderful world it would be.  All thanks to Segways in Texas.

Full disclosure:  I have been drinking tonight and shall at once see myself out.

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
2023-01-27 10:48:36 PM  
I recently spent a week driving all over west and north Texas. They are a third world country, and $32 billion will upgrade them to: still a third world country. I mean, Austin looked like the dodgy parts of Compton & South Central LA, and it's their state capital. Outside of cities, cell coverage was awful and sometimes nonexistent for >100 miles. And they have a big homeless problem. And a permanent drought.

My guess: they'll give most of it to Elon and oil companies, and spend the rest on political stunts.
 
2023-01-27 10:56:00 PM  
A tax rebate as a $300 Tricky Dick Fun Bill
media-amazon.comView Full Size
 
2023-01-27 10:57:43 PM  
Butt plugs for the lot of them.
 
2023-01-27 10:58:28 PM  
Pay a dividend to the lobbyists who invested in the government
 
2023-01-27 10:58:44 PM  
It means no more rundown crack houses

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
2023-01-27 11:03:15 PM  
Subby's got the right idea. An electric grid would allow Texas to execute a lot more people at a time than a chair.
 
2023-01-27 11:04:43 PM  
It should definitely be something short-sighted that panders to Republican voters.
 
2023-01-27 11:06:15 PM  

Pointy Tail of Satan: Where does Texas get most of this income? Sales tax. And guess what income groups pay most of those sales taxes?


The ones who consume the most?

The sales tax is 11.25 here in Chicago
 
2023-01-27 11:06:16 PM  

Jaws_Victim: [Fark user image image 425x222]

That concept already flopped. Not enough smog, horns, or metal ball sacks is my guess.


Daaamn, that thing would look right at home in Space: 1999 or Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
 
2023-01-27 11:24:07 PM  
Health care for the destitute?
 
2023-01-27 11:25:56 PM  
Where do you think that 32 billion came from, subby?
 
2023-01-27 11:26:18 PM  
Football stadiums for rich school districts.   And nothing for the poor ones like Uvalde.

The top 10 most-expensive high school football stadiums in Texas

Cy-Fair FCU Stadium - (Cy-Fair ISD): $80 million
Legacy Stadium - (Katy ISD): $70.3 million
McKinney Stadium - (McKinney ISD) $70 million
Eagle Stadium - (Allen ISD): $60 million
Woodforest Bank Stadium - (Conroe ISD): $49 million
Children's Health Stadium - (Prosper ISD): $48 million
Memorial Stadium - (Beaumont ISD): $47.3 million
District Stadium - (Tomball ISD): $42.6 million
Freedom Field - (Alvin ISD): $41.4 million
Challenger-Columbia Stadium - (Clear Creek ISD): $39 million

Eagle Stadium was the one that had cracks in the concrete and was deemed unsafe, but Wikipedia says the builder and architect bore the $10 million expense to fix it.

Those numbers are mind-boggling to me especially considering the stadiums that the schools had when and where I grew up.
 
2023-01-27 11:44:47 PM  
Tax cuts for big oil would be my guess.  Some budget for getting rid of those pesky, cancer-causing wind turbines, also.  Maybe a healthcare program for the guns, to make sure they're OK.
 
2023-01-27 11:51:59 PM  

Spaced Lion: Fix the power grid? Where's the grift and cruelty in that??


YOu take the money but don't fix the grid.
 
2023-01-28 12:01:10 AM  

Daeva: 16 miles of border wall.


For only 32 billion? Did they find cheaper contractors?
 
2023-01-28 12:02:36 AM  
I'm sure they'll promptly find something corrupt, stupid, and useless to do with all of it. Time for some more oil subsidies and a new Governor's mansion.
 
2023-01-28 12:04:01 AM  
They'll cut property taxes.

It gives the wealthy a double whammy bonus.

99% of all Texas land is privately owned. Mostly by the ultra wealthy. Huge tax cuts for them.

Public schools in Texas are funded almost entirely by property taxes. The wealthy drool at the thought of getting rid of education.

Whatever they decide to do with it, it will surely be squandered in such a way to transfer more wealth and power from the poor to the wealthy.
 
2023-01-28 12:04:34 AM  

mofa: I recently spent a week driving all over west and north Texas. They are a third world country, and $32 billion will upgrade them to: still a third world country. I mean, Austin looked like the dodgy parts of Compton & South Central LA, and it's their state capital. Outside of cities, cell coverage was awful and sometimes nonexistent for >100 miles. And they have a big homeless problem. And a permanent drought.

My guess: they'll give most of it to Elon and oil companies, and spend the rest on political stunts.


And once so invested, I'm sure it would generate literally dozens of jobs.
 
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