John Sharp
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Sharp John Sharp
As outlined by the tax panel's chairman, John Sharp, a former Democratic comptroller, the state would reduce property taxes by one-third, largely by broadening the commercial-receipts tax, which is now paid at 4.5 percent by only one out of every 16 businesses in Texas. Mr. Sharp agreed in an interview in Austin in which he outlined the plan's provisions, developed during five months of public hearings across the state. Lowering the property tax would cost about $5.8 billion a year, Mr. Sharp said, but the new business tax would raise $4 billion of that gap, and the remainder would mainly come from the surplus and higher cigarette taxes.