Glad to be living in Texas. Republicans had to have Mitt. Live and hopefully learn.

There is no such thing as "excess tax money." Money belongs in government hands to be redistributed as necessary.

That´s so ridiculous! It just might work.

Rick Perry is a good governor and I like him a lot. He only joined the 2012 nomination race on a whim and it showed. I doubt he´ll try it again

BO must be drooling with envy.
So...expect an Executive Order that states have to give excess tax money to the federal gov´t. Afterall, everything belongs to the federal gov´t, right?

Surplus = overcharge.
If your budget called for X and you collected X + 2 you should return the 2.
No different than being on a monthly budget payment plan with your utility provider and having a surplus from low usage because of a mild winter. Would you let the utility company keep your money for a rainy day? Of course not. Reduce the tax rate and give it back to those who were overcharged.

Tesas teachers are vastly underpaid and over worked. Most don´t get social security. They are not unionized. I guess that no one gives a darn.


Are we trying to make our teachers more like Chicago´s teachers? Obama would like that.

Agree with #5 re Perry not taking another shot, but let´s not overlook a key to Republican wins in presidential races the past 40 years...they were big state governors, who could carry their own states...

Reagan was gov of CA and Bush 41 was a one-term follow-on. W was gov of TX. Senators from Kansas and AZ couldn´t cut it, and neither could a one term gov from Mass who has been out of office for 6 years.

The Gov. should take a lesion from NY and NJ because of Sandy. Put all excess into a disaster emergency fund. Then there will be no begging and crying to the Fed´s when that BIG one comes up from the Gulf.

Isnt it time to stop bashing Gov. Romney.

How pathetic.

Perry was not ready for the big stage. He was coming off back surgery at the worst possible time.

Sometimes fate interferes with our plans.

Move on and remember the enemy is Barack Hussein Obama.

#8: Texas teachers are far from underpaid. In many cases they are overpaid, under worked and have little to show for their efforts. Most of them belong to one of the national teachers unions, and while they do not have to pay social security, they do contribute to their own generous retirement plan.

The democrat´s only problem with that idea is that they want to be the ones who decide which "people" get that excess money. Preferably those people who tend to vote democrat.

Texas ranks 50th out of 51 states + D.C. in per capita funding for mental health care and in funding for people with serious disabilities. Only Mississippi ranks below Texas. My own adult loved one with serious disabilities has been on a waiting list for services - any services - for 9 years now, with no end in sight. Thousands of others are in the same plight. Someday I will be dead and gone and no longer here to pick up the slack. You can ignore problems for a short time (which is what the state legislature did in its last session 2 years ago), but in the long term they will come back and bite. And the people paying the taxes will be asking why there are so many middle-aged people with serious disabilities homeless.

That happened in California (yes, California!) back in 1987. From the NY Times, July 8, 1987:

Gov. George Deukmejian signed a budget in Sacramento setting aside $1.1 billion to be returned to taxpayers because of an obscure 1979 law passed by the voters at the peak of the tax-cutting campaign initiated by Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann.

I was living in CA at the time ... I don´t recall exactly how much we got back.

Can you imagine something like that happening in CA today?

The US Congress is already plotting how to confiscate the surplus Texas tax receipts.

Heresy!!! /s

#8, in addition to social security benefits that some of them ALSO get, Texas teachers receive TRS benefits (Teacher Retirement System of Texas).

Since Chicago teachers ARE unionized, by what logic can it be said that Texas teachers are being made more like them when Texas teachers are NON-unionized AND make less money than Chicago teachers?

This is a right-to-work state. If your conclusion that "no one gives a darn´ is based on the lack of unions, then I guess no one gives a darn about any worker in Texas.
And yet, here we are with an unemployment rate that is the envy of the country. Go figure.

#14, move north. Apparently they do things much better there.

#11...don´t take my earlier comments as a bash on Romney cuz I was all in for him once he earned the nomination...but if one believes all politics is local, then we have to understand the GOP is overwhelmingly winning governors seats, state by state...I believe we must look to them for success in 2014 in holding the House and capturing the Senate, and then to that group for the 2016 nominee...

#14, you are not owed services for anything or anyone by other tax payers. Perhaps California might be a better fit for you. The majority of the population there feel as you do. And, their state is dying.

"Owe"? Way to sidetrack. I want my taxes to support the mentally disabled - preferably in a small institution. Mental institutions, roads, jails, are legitimate uses of taxes.

Both houses of Congress should have stone plaques on their entrance proclaiming "Its Not Your Money".