A state income tax could be the future for funding education in Texas, Scott McCown, director for the Center for Public Policy Priorities, said Tuesday.

At a meeting of Panhandle Twenty/20, an organization working on a yearlong study of the relationship between educational attainment and the local economy, about 100 people at Amarillo College discussed the lack of funding for education.

McCown told the assembled group that local organizations would have to push an income tax initiative to fund education because property taxes, recently cut by the Legislature, and sales taxes were insufficient.

McCown said that to increase educational attainment and advancement will require costs and there is no way around that. Changing budgets at the state and local levels is not sufficient because both bodies already spend 35 percent and 43 percent on education, respectively, he said.

"It's not a matter of going in and rearranging things," he said. "Going forward there is going to be less money for education. There is literally very little we can do ... unless we straighten out this problem."

Part of the problem is a $10.5-billion shortfall created when Texas legislators passed in special session a school-financing package that increases tax revenue from businesses, used car sales and cigarettes, but approved one bill that would spend $18.8 billion on teacher raises and school construction with a majority of it going to cutting property taxes, according to information provided by the center.

McCown said this deficit will continue to increase as the property tax revenue continues to drop.

The tax system as a whole is too regressive, McCown said, concluding that those who make less than about $22,000 end up paying about 14.2 percent of the taxes, while the richest 20 percent, don't pay their "fair share of taxes."

"In this room, people are either in the top 20 percent or imagine they soon will be. That is the real challenge," he said. "It's going to have to mean we dig in our wallets or we are going to end up in an educational Dust Bowl."

McCown said that by creating a state income tax, property taxes would be drawn down naturally and balance out. He said the idea might not be popular among state politicians, but polls show that about half of Texans support an income tax if it would reduce property taxes and a third would go to education.

Alice O'Brien, co-chair of the study, said despite the group's makeup, she thinks most will find it appealing when they realize it draws down property taxes

"It's something for everyone to consider," O'Brien said. "If we don't educate and increase achievement and attainment, not only will we have a Dust Bowl education but a Dust Bowl economy."

To increase the diversity of opinions, O'Brien said meetings are being scheduled throughout the area. The next meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Wesley Community Center, 1615 S. Roberts St.

"We want to attract more opinions and get more people involved," she said. "We want more and more people to come out and give their opinion."