Barbara Ann Radnofsky, 2010 Democratic nominee for Texas Attorney General, has long maintained that Texas' replacement calculation for the franchise tax, known as a "margin tax" is, in truth, an unconstitutional income tax. Today, Radnofsky called on Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to withdraw his opinion enabling the "margin tax" to be levied without the required vote of the people. 

Texas Constitution Article VIII, Section 24(a), known as the Bullock Amendment, requires a statewide referendum on an income tax. The margin tax is indeed an income tax. The massive power of the Attorney General is demonstrated by the Attorney General opinion enabling the margin tax to go forward without the constitutionally required vote of the people.

Radnofsky: "Attorney General Abbott has trampled the people's right to vote. I call on him to withdraw the opinion and join me in calling on the legislature to revisit this tax which will continue to skew school finance with its unfair application and massive shortfall."

Baylor Law Review has published an award winning article by Nikki Laing providing in-depth legal and accounting analysis of the unconstitutionality of the margin tax. "An Income Tax by Any Other Name is Still an Income Tax: The Constitutionality of the Texas "Margin" Tax as Applied to Partnerships and Other Unincorporated Associations, 62 Baylor L. Rev.__ (2010).

Ms. Laing, a member of Baylor Law Review was one of the Top 10 highest scorers in Texas on the CPA exam.  She has an accounting degree from Baylor University, where she received Alpha Chi Honor Society's "4.0 GPA" medal for achieving a perfect GPA in her major and was nominated as the top student in Baylor's Hankamer School of Business. Laing's article won the annual Baylor Law School "Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, L.L.P. Writing Excellence Award" for outstanding student article.

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During her 30 year legal career, Barbara Ann has represented retirees, life-saving doctors, blood banks, children burned by lighters, families of murder victims, unfairly treated businesses: a wide variety of persons entitled to protection. Barbara Ann graduated with honors from the University of Houston and the University of Texas School of Law.   She was honored as the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas in 1988 and for the past 17 years she has been listed in "Best Lawyers in America".

Prior to 2006, she was a partner at the law firm of Vinson & Elkins in Houston, where she served as head of the Alternate Dispute Resolution Section.  She was the first woman at Vinson & Elkins to have children as an associate and later attain partnership.  Texas has never had a woman Attorney General.

Media Contact:
Katie Floyd
katie.floyd@radnofsky.com
713-357-3360 (office)