Posted 12/11/2005 01:56:00 PM by Douglas

Two interesting if not contradictory stories in the Chronicle yesterday. First up, are the people of Texas gifted out from hurricane generosity?

In other years — that is, years without the massive pledge campaigns by national charities to help with the killer hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes that made 2005 so remarkable — office groups, churches or community organizations always brought truckloads of toys to the local mission without having to be asked.

Tabor estimated last week that Star of Hope had received only about a third of the gifts it had taken in by this time last year.

Compounding the problem in Houston, which has always done well in terms of giving, is the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the area.

"Houston may be hit harder," Miniutti said, because there is "less money to go around."

Makes sense, right? There's a finite amount people can donate, and I would only assume that Katrina and Rita has milked all the money it can from people in this region, especially from those that would generally donate nothing.

But contrast the empty Christmas funds with the swelling coffers from local taxing entities:

The Gulf Coast hurricanes sparked a spending spree as Texans and evacuees from other states opened their wallets to restock and rebuild.

That buying in October provided an economic boost to the state and most Texas cities, with Beaumont and other hard-hit areas seeing some of the biggest increases in sales tax revenue.

State sales tax collections for that month were up 9.4 percent overall compared with the same period a year earlier, the State Comptroller's office reported Friday.

Houston, where the sales tax rate is 8.25 percent, received $32 million in tax revenue, 20 percent higher than the payment it got in December 2004.

Sorry New Orleans, your loss is our gain!

So are these two stories going to intersect somewhere? Is this serendipitous tax windfall going to find its way to becoming a charitable contribution, or is the state going to blow it? Why am I so damn cynical?