Details on Rally:

Name:

PROTEST FOR LAWFUL PUBLIC EDUCATION FUNDING & CURRICULUM  

(Ad Valorem Property Taxes Levied by State School Districts Are Unconstitutional)

When:

Monday October 22, 2012

Time:

All Day Starting at 9:00 AM

Where:

Sidewalks around the

Travis County Courthouse

1000 Guadalupe

Austin, Texas 78701

see map below

News Coverage:

Yes! This is a big event for public schools, the Texas Congress. We need to be there with the truth because they won’t. Let’s get the Rule of Law they always like to give lip service to!

Protested Event:

 

TTSFC v. SBOE:

The Texas Taxpayer’s & Student Fairness Coalition, consisting of 392 Texas School Districts that manage about 70% of the student population of Texas, open their first day of trial against the State Board of Education and the Texas Education Commissioner in the 250th District Court in Travis County, Texas. The TTSFC claims that the ad valorem property tax system supporting state public education imposed by the local districts and designed by the state legislature is unconstitutional.

The TTSFC believes that the ad valorem property tax system must be altered once again to raise and distribute the tax more equally between districts. We at SueIT.org know that any ad valorem property tax in support of a state function like state highways and public schools are unconstitutional under Article 8 Section 1-e and need to be stopped immediately.

The TTSFC claims are essentially the same as those filed by many local State school districts on many occasions over a 40 year period resulting in essentially the same erroneous judicial opinions. The Texas Supreme Court Opinions have found these taxes unconstitutional but for the wrong reasons, hence, misleading the State Legislature to alter the means of calculating and setting the ad valorem property tax in a way that appears to make the tax constitutional and in compliance with the judicial opinions.

On most occasions the newly legislatively designed ad valorem property tax systems supporting state public schools are almost immediately in violation of the TSC rulings.

But the State School Districts have a vested interest in the continuance of the unconstitutional state ad valorem property tax to support state public schools in violation of Article 8 Section 1-e.

These local state school districts should not be allowed to sue the state for violation of their constitutional rights because they do not have any constitutional rights, only duties.

Note: Ron Avery is not a party to the suit in progress nor is he in a lawsuit related to property taxes. The Avery v. Murphy case shown on the left menu was disposed of by the Texas Supreme Court but the Avery case proves the statements made on this website.

 

Why:

 

1.      Protest closing of the Texas Judicial System to individual citizens in order to block them from correcting unconstitutional legislation and unlawful actions of State School Districts and County Tax Offices and Tax Collectors and Assessors. See Avery v. Murphy 2007 on the left menu for proof that no citizen can challenge unconstitutional property tax because the citizen cannot show they have a “unique injury” separate and distinct from all their fellow citizens.

1.1.   The “Unique Injury” rule of judicial precedence does not apply to citizens who have been damaged by the actions of the State and its employees and officers in violation of the Texas Constitution.

1.2.   The proper use of the “Unique Injury” rule is to block citizens from interfering with the lawful authority of an officer or employee of the state unless they have been injured in some unique way separate from all their peers. A State employee or official acting in their constitutional capacity may be sued by a citizen if they were injured by the act in a unique way.

1.3.   Courts were created and lawsuits were invented by the people for the purpose of interfering with the actions of state employees and officials that have no constitutional authority for the act committed.

1.4.   How can a citizen interfere with the lawful authority of a state employee or official who had no lawful authority to act as alleged, causing damage to the citizen?

1.5.   It makes no difference how many citizens or if all citizens were harmed by the act of a state employee or official that had no authority to act as alleged causing the damage.

1.6.   Therefore, citizens cannot be lawfully blocked from using the judicial system using the “unique injury rule” to stop unconstitutional taxation harming a few or every citizen. But the courts do it anyway! It’s a scam or Biblical proportions costing Texans Trillions of dollars over a 44 year period.

 

2.      Protest the granting of Constitutional Rights to State Subdivisions. The courts have allowed School Districts to file lawsuits against the state for violations of the Texas Constitution, namely, Article 8 Section 1-e and Article 7 Section 1. State subdivisions may be lawfully permitted to petition a State District Court for Declaratory Judgment requesting opinions as to how to proceed in their duties to the citizens of Texas but they cannot sue Texas claiming a violation of their rights as they have no constitutional rights. But the Judicial System allows the State School Districts to sue the State Board of Education et al for violation of Constitutional Rights when they have none.

2.1.   School Districts (SDs) may ask the court if they have authority to raise revenue for the purpose of funding state public schools.

2.2.   SDs may ask the court if they have authority to spend revenue they collect.

2.3.   SDs may ask the court if they have authority to determine how to collect and spend any revenue obtained.

2.4.   But the local State School Districts cannot ask the court if their constitutional rights have been violated by the action of some other school district.

2.5.   A local State School District can only ask the court questions related to its own correct exercise of their own authority rather than the authority of someone else or some other entity, i.e., they cannot complain about the actions of some other entity and how that hurts their activity.

2.6.   The local State School Districts only have duties to perform not rights to be protected.

 

The Law:

 

Article 8 Section 1-e says:

 

“No State ad valorem taxes shall be levied upon any property within this State.”

 

Article 7 Section 1 says:

 

“A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.” (Bolding added)

 

Note: Some try to make a distinction between the Legislature and the State so they can give more power to the Legislature than to the State. Is the Legislature a state unto itself or a separate entity from the State? Absolutely not! The State Legislature cannot legislate or create anything that is not delegated to the State in the Constitution.

 

Texas Education Code (TEC) §42.001(a) says:

 

“It is the policy of this state that the provision of public education is a state responsibility and that a thorough and efficient system be provided and substantially financed through state revenue sources***” (Bolding added)

 

Note: “Substantially financed” does not and cannot mean less than 50%. When architects say a building is substantially completed they do not mean less than 50% completed. A substantially completed building can be occupied by the tenant or owner and that cannot happen in a building less than 50% completed. Therefore, this means that local school districts cannot fund over 50% of the operation, maintenance and new construction of schools, by any means, for more than 5%. Substantial Financing would be about 95%. But we will see later that no ad valorem tax can be used to fund any part of State Public Education. We will also see that the local State Public School District cannot fund any part or portion of State Public Education as it is not a local authority. The local people have delegated their authority to the State under Article 7 Section 1 to fund, organize and operate all of Public Education in Texas. Once they have delegated their authority to the State, the State cannot delegate it back to the local areas. The local State Public School Districts can only administer the State funds and policies locally on behalf of the State as a State Sub-Division. Local State School Districts cannot set policy or impose taxes or fund State Public Schools.

 

Article 8 Section 1(a) says:

 

“Taxation shall be equal and uniform.”

 

Note: This means that all forms of State taxation to support State functions like highways and Public Schools must be funded with a tax that is uniformly and equally applied to all people across Texas. This eliminates ad valorem property tax as this system cannot be applied uniformly or equally to any one in Texas. No one can really establish the value of anyone else’s property. This law says “equal and uniform” not “similar to equal” or “kind of close to uniform.”

 

Article 7 Section 3(e) says:

 

“The Legislature shall be authorized to pass laws for the assessment and collection of taxes in all school districts and for the management and control of the public school or schools of such districts, whether such districts are composed of territory wholly within a county or in parts of two or more counties, and the Legislature may authorize an additional ad valorem tax to be levied and collected within all school districts for the further maintenance of public free schools, and for the erection and equipment of school buildings therein; provided that a majority of the qualified voters of the district voting at an election to be held for that purpose, shall approve the tax.” (Bolding added)

 

Note: This Constitutional provision immediately above is in direct contradiction to Article 8 Section 1-e which abolishes all State ad valorem property taxes on any property in Texas. So Article 8 Section 3(e) would require the repeal or modification of Article 8 Section 1-e which, has not occurred. Instead the courts have tried to maintain that there are two distinct separate entities with two taxing authorities; the State and the School District. But the Texas Civil Practice and Remedy Code says otherwise – it says the School District is merely a subdivision of the State created solely to administer State policy as TEC §42.001(a) above confirms. Therefore, the School District is the State and cannot have authority that exceeds that of the State. Hence, the State School Districts cannot levy ad valorem property taxes on any property in Texas to administer and fund State Public Schools.

Further, as noted earlier, the Legislature cannot be given more power and authority than has been delegated to the State. This is why some try to make a distinction so they may get around the prohibition of ad valorem property taxes to fund state functions by claiming that the Legislature can authorize powers that have been prohibited to the State. This is total non-sense! The Legislature cannot delegate power to one of its subdivisions that the State has been specifically denied by the people.

Finally, can the voters approve or impose an ad valorem property tax to fund State functions in a way that is forbidden to the State? Certainly not!

 

Texas Civil Practice and Remedy Code (CPRC) Section 101.001 (3)(A)(B) says:

 

“(3)  "Governmental unit" means: (A)  this state and all the several agencies of government that collectively constitute the government of this state, including other agencies bearing different designations, and all departments, bureaus, boards, commissions, offices, agencies, councils, and courts; (B) a political subdivision of this state, including any city, county, school district, junior college district, levee improvement district, drainage district, irrigation district, water improvement district, water control and improvement district, water control and preservation district, freshwater supply district, navigation district, conservation and reclamation district, soil conservation district, communication district, public health district, and river authority;”  (Bolding added)

 

Obvious Contradiction:

 

The local school district is a subdivision of the State of Texas as defined by the Texas CPRC Section 101.001 (3)(B). And Article 8 Section 1-e forbids the State of Texas from levying an ad valorem property tax on any property in Texas. We know the legislature cannot authorize a subdivision of itself to do anything that has been denied to the State. This then negates and voids Article 7 Section 3(e) and should be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Texas.

 

Question:

 

How then can a State subdivision have authority that the State does not have? How can a State Subdivision have authority under Article 7 Section 3(e) that is specifically denied to the State of Texas under Article 8 Section 1-e? That is impossible! This would be like a mother corporation that is denied the authority and power to bug all the homes of their stockholders creating a sub-corporation for the sole purpose of bugging the homes of the mother corporation. Why would the stockholder create such a sub-division for such a purpose that was strictly and specifically forbidden to the mother corporation?

This is the question that needs to be asked of the Texas Supreme Court but the State School Districts are not going to ask such a question because they have a vested interest in getting around the Constitutional Prohibition against the use of an ad valorem property tax by the State to fund State functions like Public Education.

 

Resultant Ludicrous, Contradictory Supreme Court Opinions & Mandates:

 

The Texas Supreme Court has twisted itself into a pretzel in an attempt to make a distinction between the powers of the State and the powers of the local State School District. Obviously this is done to give power to the subdivision of the State that has been specifically denied to the State. The result is equally absurd.

The TSC has ruled on several occasions that local ad valorem property taxes imposed by the local school districts become state ad valorem property taxes when they become uniform across the state of Texas. The State has set a tax rate cap on the local ad valorem taxes in a futile effort to make public education equal across the state regardless of the naturally varying wealth of the areas to be in compliance with the “efficiency” wording of Article 7 Section 1.

The legislature then goes into special session to come up with a gimmick to allow districts to charge a lower tax rate below the tax rate cap at differing levels to show that the ad valorem tax is not uniform and therefore a local ad valorem property tax in conformity to the unconstitutional Article 7 Section 3(e).

The TSC also ruled on several occasions that the uniformity is an indication that the local State School Districts have lost their discretion to set the tax rate themselves rather than being forced to tax at the maximum tax rate. The TSC deems the loss of discretion by the district the imposition of State control over the taxation amount resulting in what the TSC claims is a violation of Article 8 Section 1-e.

Therefore, the end result of the Texas Supreme Court Opinions and mandates are that the 1243 State Public School Districts must all provide an equal education for each student getting the same allotment of money from an unequal tax rate. This is absurd and ludicrous on its face!

It is obvious that the Texas Supreme Court has gone way out of its way to avoid the obvious that a State function like public education cannot be paid for by a means that is forbidden to the State. Further, the TSC has twisted itself into a knot in an attempt to show that a subdivision of the State can have and exercise autonomous power separate from the State, as if the State could create a more powerful entity then itself. This is hilarious and shows a complete ignorance of the ancient law of delegated authority!

It is also obvious that the Texas Judicial System has done all this along with the Legislature and the State Public School Districts to obtain money and debt in a manner that has been forbidden unto the State. It is also obvious that the citizens have been blocked from exercising their constitutional right under Article 1 Section 13 to correct their State so that more than half of the financing for public education is done in a manner forbidden to the state and to guarantee to 10 banks in America a risk free loan program which has reached $106.8 Billion dollars in Texas alone. There should be no borrowing of money at all to build new schools and conduct all public education in Texas. And that is reflected in the constitutional law of Texas as shown herein.

Once the legislature creates their new tax lowering gimmick, as done by the latest Perry Sharp plan, it is not long until all school districts are back charging the maximum tax rate allowed by the cap or very near it. When this happens the TSC rules them to be an unconstitutional State ad valorem property tax rather than local ad valorem property tax. But the Supreme Court of Texas is the only entity in the State that can say when that occurs. Hence, the citizen can know the tax is unlawful but cannot refuse to pay it because it has not been declared so by the TSC to be a State ad valorem property tax in violation of Article 8 Section 1-e. And if the citizen sues to find out, they are thrown out of court because they cannot prove a unique injury separate from all his peers. This is judicial corruption at its highest!

The simple way to determine if a tax is a state tax is to determine how the proceeds are spent. If the revenue is spent on a state function then the tax is a state tax. Public Education is a State Function. Therefore, revenue spent on Public Education cannot be raised by an ad valorem property tax. This means that the autonomy and discretion of the local State Public School District has no bearing on the determination of what kind of tax it is.

We know that we avoid all the ridiculous mandates and opinions when we find that the school districts cannot impose an ad valorem property tax. This means that all public education must be raised in a manner in conformity to Article 8 Section 1(a), i.e., it must be equal and uniformly collected across the state. That does not mean a little bit equal but absolutely equal by a sales tax. This then can be distributed exactly equally to all students across Texas. This permanently satisfies all constitutional requirements in Texas related to taxation and funding of public education.

 

Rally Rules:

We do not want to make a bunch of noise or disturb the progress of the courthouse or block, impede or harass pedestrian or vehicular traffic. This will be a quiet informative demonstration. We want to have plenty of good signs that talk for us and plenty of literature and fliers to pass out to explain our frustration, exhaustion and disgust with a 44 year tax scam against the property of the people of Texas being conducted by the Texas Judiciary, the State Legislature, the Local State School Districts and a handful of filthy rich greedy banks. We want them to learn that we know what they are doing and how they’re doing it, and that we know it is criminal.

 

Location Map:

Photo of Location:

 

Read Texas Taxpayer’s & Student Fairness Coalition Petition & Defendant’s Response: