No Place but Texas: A home and car tax cometh your way

Prior to the massive insurance reform of 2003 the Texas Windstorm Association (TWIA) covered about 6% of the coastal area and was working as it was designed in the 70's. It might not have been perfect, but it was solvent and able to pay claims, until the Republican Party used it's magic "Free Market" wand on it. Now everyone in the state, including you, may pay for it.

According to Seth Chandler of the University of Houston Law Center:

"We have less than half a billion dollars in the bank right now. TWIA thinks it can go borrow and get re-insurance and cover about another $3 billion, but I add three billion to a half billion and I get to $3.5 billion. I don't get to anywhere near the five, 10, 15 billion that a major hit on the Texas coast could cost," said Chandler.

In 2009 the Tea Party allowed TWIA to tax homeowners across the coastal area in order to cover a major event, no matter where that event took place. They also allowed the taxation of owners of car insurance. Now in the 2015 session they will ask to allow TWIA to tax everyone in the state to cover TWIA's mismanagement.

State Insurance Representative (SIR) Larry Taylor (Teabagger Friendswood) led the charge to reform TWIA in 2003. Now he is leading the charge to tax Texas property and car owners claiming his district needs the protection because of their economic engine. Unfortunately it may be a hard sell since SIR Larry Taylor was the one that broke the system in the first place. His "free market" allowed his insurance buddies to flee the market, leaving his district with the only provider, TWIA, which is in serious financial trouble.

Lucky for Taylor, he owns an insurance company and makes money from selling TWIA contracts. He also pushed a bill to raise his own commissions from these sales. He isn't hurting, but everyone in Texas will be soon.

I have so sympathy for those on the coast. They voted for this moron and he intends to make them pay for it and make money doing it.