Nobody likes paying taxes, but at least in the case of local sales taxes, you expect that the money is going to address the needs of your community. You probably never imagined that your tax dollars were being sent to another community to serve their needs or even provide a big rebate to a business.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what is happening around Texas. Some cities and businesses have cut deals to source local sales tax on internet sales solely to particular cities. In exchange, those cities may rebate local tax dollars to the business – in some cases, 75 percent of the money.

In every other situation where taxes are used for economic development, the voters have the ability to have a say in those local elections. In this situation, all of us are paying local sales taxes that are used in a city where we have no rights as voters. This is a clear case of taxation without representation, and worse yet, it is being done without the full light of government transparency.

That’s why my office has proposed a rule to curb the practice.

If you’d like to know more, you can read about it in the Dallas Morning News, the Texas Tribune (here and here)  and on our website.

Thank you for all you do for Texas, and God bless,