AUSTIN, Texas -- A state lawmaker disgruntled over rising taxes and government spending proposes that 26 northern Panhandle counties secede and create a new state called 'Old Texas.'
Republican state Rep. David Swinford said the new state, with its capital in Amarillo, would be the richest in the nation per capita because of the region's vast oil, gas and agriculture production.
He said Gov. Ann Richards' 'New Texas' -- a slogan for the Lone Star State -- is facing a $2.1 billion tax and fee bill to help pay for a record $59.4 billion budget for the 1992-93 biennium.
'The people of the Panhandle are not impressed with the New Texas. It simply costs too much,' Swinford said. 'For years the people of the Texas Panhandle have been sending their hard-earned tax dollars to Austin, where big government has squandered every penny.'
Swinford said business owners in his region are fed up with what he called exorbitant workers' compensation insurance rates, high taxes and government regulation.
Old Texas, he said, would not have a state income tax or redistribution of wealth among school districts. But with its energy and agricultural wealth, he said all children would be provided a free education.
The region currently produces 44 percent of the wheat grown in Texas, 76 percent of the beef cattle and 33 percent of the corn, along with its oil and gas reserves.
Old Texas would be a 25,000-square-mile, box-shaped state with a population of 371,956. It would be larger than 10 other states.
Swinford said his proposed state would have the lowest crime rate and the cleanest environment of any state in the nation.
He conceded, however, there is little chance it will happen.
'I'm not a total idiot,' he said.
