Governor Rick Perry is expected today to call for amending the Texas Constitution to allow the state to return tax money it collects but doesn’t spend back to its citizens, the Associated Press reports.
The move – which Perry is scheduled to announce during his State of the State address at 11 a.m. – will support that idea that he “never bought into the notion that if you collect more, you need to spend more.”
“Today, I’m calling for a mechanism to be put in place so when we do bring in more than we need, we’ll have the option of returning tax money directly to the people who paid it,” the governor plans to say. “Currently, that’s not something our constitution allows. We need to fix that.”
Proposing a constitutional amendment requires two-thirds support of both the House and Senate, and it then must be approved by a majority of Texas voters. The Texas Tribune will live-stream the speech, starting at 11 a.m.
