Print
E-mail
Comment
Harpold running to ease tax burdens
By AUDREY M. MARKS
The way former Sen. Kyle Janek resigned from office and tapped Republican candidate Austen Furse didn’t sit well with Braeswood Place resident Grant Harpold.
“I looked at the field of candidates initially and the process that brought about Kyle Janek leaving his Senate position and it wasn’t the most open process,” Harpold said in an interview with the Sun. “I feel like we needed another candidate in there -- specifically one that has background that I do.”
Now Harpold is challenging Furse, in addition to former District Judge Joan Huffman and former Congressman and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell in the race to represent state Senate District 17.
Harpold said the way politicians, lobbyists and other special interests ignore the people in the districts back home isn’t right.
His biggest issue is the case of the state’s margins tax passed in the last legislative session.
The Texas margins tax, also known as the gross-receipts tax, replaced the state’s franchise tax.
Under the new tax, businesses are taxed on one of three values, whichever is the lowest dollar amount on:
total revenue minus the cost of goods sold.
total revenue minus employee compensation and benefits.
70 percent of total revenue.
Harpold believes the tax is hurting small Texas businesses and, if chosen to represent the district in Austin, would fight it.
“I would like to repeal it and go back to where we had the franchise tax system before in 2006,” Harpold said. “ If it can't be repealed we need to at least change it so not penalizing small businesses.”
Harpold said as a representative for constituents he would have handled the situation differently by going back to the community to alert residents of the tax being proposed.
“The margins tax was passed without input from the community,” Harpold said. “Small business owners and people living away from Austin didn't know what was going on until after the fact. And I guarantee they would have had something opposite to say about the type of legislation that passed.”
As a lawyer with 20 years of experience, Harpold said he’s been listening to clients for years.
“You can’t be a practicing lawyer unless your good at listening and responding to clients,” He said.
He describes his type of leadership as following a “listen, respond and lead” style.
Additionally, Harpold wants to find a way to keep citizens from having to fight reappraisals with the central appraisal district on a yearly basis.
“Every year, most people end up fighting to keep their taxes lower because there is an ever increasing effort to raise values and increase taxes which gives more money to the government,” Harpold said.
“We need constants so citizen don't have the uncertainty of how much they owes in taxes.”
Harpold is suggesting property taxes become a fixed value for five to seven years, where residents have the right to protest if something happens to decrease the value.
He has other alternatives where the tax cap would be lowered.
“We continually pull money out of citizens’ pockets regardless if they've had a good year personally. It’s not an income tax based on how you did revenue-wise; it’s based on the perceived economic value that may not be a reality.”
Harpold said his campaign will focus on Republican rock bed issues like lower taxes and less government.
“These are the themes Ronald Reagan ran on and entrenched in the Republican party,” he said.
“I looked at the field of candidates initially and the process that brought about Kyle Janek leaving his Senate position and it wasn’t the most open process,” Harpold said in an interview with the Sun. “I feel like we needed another candidate in there -- specifically one that has background that I do.”
Now Harpold is challenging Furse, in addition to former District Judge Joan Huffman and former Congressman and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell in the race to represent state Senate District 17.
Harpold said the way politicians, lobbyists and other special interests ignore the people in the districts back home isn’t right.
His biggest issue is the case of the state’s margins tax passed in the last legislative session.
The Texas margins tax, also known as the gross-receipts tax, replaced the state’s franchise tax.
Under the new tax, businesses are taxed on one of three values, whichever is the lowest dollar amount on:
total revenue minus the cost of goods sold.
total revenue minus employee compensation and benefits.
70 percent of total revenue.
Harpold believes the tax is hurting small Texas businesses and, if chosen to represent the district in Austin, would fight it.
“I would like to repeal it and go back to where we had the franchise tax system before in 2006,” Harpold said. “ If it can't be repealed we need to at least change it so not penalizing small businesses.”
Harpold said as a representative for constituents he would have handled the situation differently by going back to the community to alert residents of the tax being proposed.
“The margins tax was passed without input from the community,” Harpold said. “Small business owners and people living away from Austin didn't know what was going on until after the fact. And I guarantee they would have had something opposite to say about the type of legislation that passed.”
As a lawyer with 20 years of experience, Harpold said he’s been listening to clients for years.
“You can’t be a practicing lawyer unless your good at listening and responding to clients,” He said.
He describes his type of leadership as following a “listen, respond and lead” style.
Additionally, Harpold wants to find a way to keep citizens from having to fight reappraisals with the central appraisal district on a yearly basis.
“Every year, most people end up fighting to keep their taxes lower because there is an ever increasing effort to raise values and increase taxes which gives more money to the government,” Harpold said.
“We need constants so citizen don't have the uncertainty of how much they owes in taxes.”
Harpold is suggesting property taxes become a fixed value for five to seven years, where residents have the right to protest if something happens to decrease the value.
He has other alternatives where the tax cap would be lowered.
“We continually pull money out of citizens’ pockets regardless if they've had a good year personally. It’s not an income tax based on how you did revenue-wise; it’s based on the perceived economic value that may not be a reality.”
Harpold said his campaign will focus on Republican rock bed issues like lower taxes and less government.
“These are the themes Ronald Reagan ran on and entrenched in the Republican party,” he said.
Submit a Comment
|
You must be logged in to post a comment.
|
Not yet a registered member?
Click here to become one. Comments to stories and articles on the Web site are not edited or pre-approved before appearing online. Readers posting comments are solely responsible for those comments. Comments must be germane to the story to which they apply. Online comments that are libelous, profane or personally attack another site participant can be reported as abuse using the link provided on each comment. Comments reported as abusive will be reviewed and may be removed from view, as will off-topic comments. BE CIVIL. Individuals continually posting abusive comments to the site may have their registrations revoked. |
