FRESH AIR – AT 9:57 A.M. ET:  Governor Rick Perry of Texas did not make it as a presidential candidate – he wasn't ready – but he has some very good ideas.  He just proposed something that may just catch on, but only in states that are well run.  You won't be seeing this in Illinois.  From AP, via Fox:

AUSTIN, Texas – Gov. Rick Perry will use his State of the State address 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, according to an excerpt of the speech released to The Associated Press.

Perry, who is scheduled to deliver the speech Tuesday morning to a joint session of the Legislature, will tell lawmakers that he has "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."

The Republican has for weeks called on the Legislature to cut taxes and continue to hold down government spending -- even though Texas's economy is booming. He'll also use the speech to give a specific dollar amount he'd like to see in tax reductions.

COMMENT:  I love that aside, "even though Texas's economy is booming."   Apparently the reporter thinks that, in good times, a state has a right to get sloppy and irresponsible. 

Perry has a great idea.  It reminds me of Alaska returning oil dividends to taxpayers.  Liberals, of course, will be horrified.  "You mean, you aren't going to throw more of that surplus at education?  Why...why...it's for the children."  Yeah, right.  We see how often "the children" benefit.

I'd love for Texas to adopt the Perry amendment, and then display it to the rest of the country.  He might even get a call from some guy in the White House asking, "How'd you do this?"  On second thought, he won't get that call.

January 29, 2013