Higher Taxes For Texans, Hidden Taxes For Bill White

For 72 days liberal trial lawyer Bill White has refused to release his income taxes for his years in public service. One thing White is not hiding is his willingness to raise taxes, as he did while mayor of Houston.

“Liberal Bill White is refusing to rule out increasing taxes for all of Texas, just like he refuses to release his income tax returns,” said Texans for Rick Perry spokesman Mark Miner. “While Bill White was mayor of Houston, expenses exceeded revenues every year, taxes went up, and the city had to borrow millions to balance the budget. Texas cannot afford Bill White.”

During a television interview last week, White said he “won't rule out tax increases to help pay the state's bills.” [1]

White said this previously in March, when the Associated Press reported, “White also refused to rule out future tax increases.” [2]

Last year, while White was a candidate for the U.S. Senate, the Houston Chronicle reported that White was not running for Governor because “he reportedly has said privately that another reason is that he could not with a straight face say as a gubernatorial candidate that he wouldn't raise taxes in the face of the problems the state faces.” [3]

While White was Houston mayor, the city was required by state law to formally declare during a 2005 city council meeting that it was raising taxes. At the time, White said, “There will be some people whose taxes go up and some people whose taxes go down.” [4]

Since then, as the Austin American-Statesman reported, “the average residential tax bill rose by an annual average of 4.8 percent from 2006 to 2009.” [5]

SOURCING:

[1] “Candidate doesn't rule out tax increase,” KVUE-TV, 5/13/10, http://www.kvue.com/news/local/One-on-one-with-Bill-Whi...

[2] “Democrat White criticizes Perry on budget cuts,” Associated Press, 3/9/10, http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stori...

[3] “White keeping eye on D.C., not Austin,” Houston Chronicle, 6/28/09, http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/casey/...

[4] “City Council cuts taxes - or so it says - Since revenues are likely to rise, new law requires city to announce a tax increase,” Houston Chronicle, 10/27/05, http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/341911...

[5] “White says he cut tax rates five times,” Austin American Statesman, 5/8/10, http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2010/may/07/...