Texas
Killeen Daily Herald: Sales Tax Holiday Starts Friday
August 6, 2014
By Alex Wukman … Kelly Davis, Midwest director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said the three-day tax holiday provides no relief for low- and moderate-income taxpayers throughout the remainder of the year and unfairly favors higher-income earners. “Unlike higher-income taxpayers, low- and middle-income families can’t always shift their shopping to take advantage […]
Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform
August 5, 2014 • By Meg Wiehe
Sales taxes are an important revenue source, comprising close to half of all state revenues in 2013. But sales taxes are also inherently regressive because the lower a family's income, the more of its income the family must spend on things subject to the tax.
Los Angeles Times: Hypocrite Watch: Texas Gov. Rick Perry Says He May Move to Calif.
June 19, 2014
But Texas has sales and property taxes that make its overall burden of taxation on low-wage families much heavier than the national average, while the state also taxes the middle class at rates as high or higher than in California. For instance, non-elderly Californians with family income in the middle 20 percent of the income distribution pay combined state and local taxes amounting to 8.2 percent of their income, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy; by contrast, their counterparts in Texas pay 8.6 percent.
An updated version of this brief was published on February 9, 2017. Read this report in pdf. Every state levies taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, usually just called “gas taxes.” These taxes are an important source of state revenue—particularly for transportation—but their poor design has resulted in sluggish revenue growth that fails to […]
San Antonio Express News: Wanna Talk Taxes?
April 28, 2014
(Original post) By the Editorial Board, April 25, 2014 Because Texas property taxes are among the highest in the U.S., the idea of replacing them is tantalizing. Be careful what you wish for. In the race for Texas Comptroller, GOP nominee Glenn Hegar has suggested supplanting property taxes with sales taxes. Democratic nominee Mike Collier […]
Wall Street Journal: States Raise Gas Taxes to Pay for Infrastructure
April 7, 2014
(Original Post) As Congress Only Takes Short-Term Steps, Governors Seek More Funds for Roads By JOSH MITCHELL Updated April 4, 2014 7:32 p.m. ET GEORGETOWN, Del.—States and cities desperate to build and repair roads and other infrastructure—but frustrated by inertia in Congress—are raising their own levies and turning to private companies for funding. Six states […]
Burnt Orange Report: The Texas Miracle – The Devil in the Details
March 18, 2014
(Original Post) by: Joe Deshotel Fri Mar 14, 2014 at 02:00 PM CDT As the American economy begins to gain traction and the national dialogue addresses the subject of income equality it is a good time to reflect on merits of “The Texas Miracle.” The narrative is simple — Low taxes, low services, and low […]
Salon: The “Texas Miracle” fraud
March 10, 2014
(Original Post) FRIDAY, MAR 7, 2014 01:56 PM EST Yes, Texas has seen a lot of growth — but should conservatives really be bragging about it? ALEX PAREENE Remember “The Texas Miracle”? It was the story of how Rick Perry was going to be president because his state, Texas, was doing so much better than […]
The Huffington Post: Why Rick Perry Is So Wrong About California And New York
March 10, 2014
(Original Post) Posted: 03/08/2014 10:20 am EST Updated: 03/08/2014 10:59 am EST Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) was the standout star at the Conservative Political Action Conference this year, in no small part because of his impassioned plea for Americans to recognize that the fate of the U.S. comes down to a battle of visions […]
Buenos Aires Herald: The US – the poorest rich country on earth
March 10, 2014
(Original Post) By Gabriela Esquivada For The Herald in US The United States is often referred to as the “land of opportunity.” But an increasing number of US citizens are feeling the pinch, struggling to makes ends meet as inequality in the country rises. From New York, Gabriela Esquivada looks at how the richest nation […]
Washington Monthly: The Texas Miracle that Isn’t
March 6, 2014
(Original Post) “Oh yes, I know what you’ve heard. And it’s true, as the state’s boosters like to brag, that Texas does not have an income tax. But Texas has sales and property taxes that make its overall burden of taxation on low-wage families much heavier than the national average, while the state also taxes […]
The Fiscal Times: The 10 Best States for Taxes in 2014
January 27, 2014
(Original Post) BETH BRAVERMAN The Fiscal Times January 24, 2014 Anyone who has a head start on tax planning this year knows that many Americans – particularly high earners – are paying a lot more in taxes this year. But while there’s no dodging federal taxes, the pinch of additional levies varies greatly depending on […]
Marshfield News-Herald: Tax reform dominating early 2014 political discussions
January 6, 2014
Logan T. Carlson Central Wisconsin Sunday As the calendar flips to another year, there are rumblings in the State Capitol of Gov. Scott Walker considering idea of eliminating the state’s income tax in favor of shifting the state’s revenue toward a sales tax. No official proposal has been developed or released by Walker, but […]
Mint Press News: Expiring Tax Deductions Prompt Talk Of Reform For State, Federal Tax System
December 30, 2013
(Original Post) Without congressional action to extend state and federal tax deductions, 11 million taxpayers will lose $17 billion. By Jo Erickson | December 26, 2013 As the year ends nine federal tax provisions will expire, causing some to pay more in state and local sales taxes. Most critics agree that state and federal taxes […]
The Cap Times: What do states with no income tax do for revenue?
December 30, 2013
(Original Post) December 27, 2013 10:25 am • STEVEN ELBOW | The Capital Times | [email protected] Gov. Scott Walker raised a lot of eyebrows earlier this month when he broached the idea of scrapping the state income tax, joining seven other states. So what do Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming do […]
Chicago Tribune: Boeing makes sky-high request for states wanting 777X plant
December 19, 2013
When it comes to corporate incentives, leave it to an aerospace company to test the limits of what will fly. For those hoping to host production of its newest big jet, Chicago-based Boeing has a wish list that even Santa, his reindeer and all his little helpers would be hard-pressed to lift, let alone […]
USA Today: Why Christie should endorse tuition equity
December 2, 2013
(Original Post) Raul Reyes, USATODAY 7:12 p.m. EST November 26, 2013 If he signs bill, undocumented high school grads would be able to pay in-state tuition. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is a lawmaker who plays by his own rules. The iconoclastic Republican was not afraid to buck his party by standing with Democratic President […]
Burnt Orange Report: Texas State Senators Call for Preservation of the DREAM Act
October 28, 2013
(Original Post) by: Emily Cadik Sat Oct 26, 2013 at 10:00 AM CDT Eleven state senators – Rodney Ellis, Sylvia Garcia, Juan Hinojosa, Eddie Lucio, Jr., Jose Rodriguez, Carlos Uresti, Leticia Van de Putte, Kirk Watson, Royce West, John Whitmire, and Judith Zaffirini – are calling for preservation of the DREAM Act amid recent attempts […]
Politico: Arthur Laffer is back as GOP tax man
October 15, 2013
By RACHAEL BADE | 10/14/13 11:03 PM EDT Four decades ago at the Washington Hotel, a quirky economist made a pitch on the back of a napkin to Ford administration officials Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld: Cutting taxes would create an economic boom. Back then, many Republicans opposed tax cuts, but that famous “Laffer […]
Gas tax revenues are on an unsustainable course. Over the last five years, Congress has transferred more than $53 billion from the general fund to the transportation fund in order to compensate for lagging gas tax revenues. By 2015, the transportation fund will be insolvent unless an additional $15 billion transfer is made. Larger transfers will be needed in subsequent years.
Annual state and local finance data from the Census Bureau are often used to rank states as "low" or "high" tax states based on taxes collected as a share of state personal income. But focusing on a state's overall tax revenues overlooks the fact that taxpayers experience tax systems very differently. In particular, the poorest 20 percent of taxpayers pay a greater share of their income in state and local taxes than any other income group in all but 10 states (including DC). And, in every state, low- income taxpayers pay more as a share of income than the wealthiest…
New Census Bureau data released this month show that the share of Americans living in poverty remains high, despite other signs of economic recovery. The national 2012 poverty rate of 15 percent is essentially unchanged since 2010 , but still 2.5 percentage points higher than pre-recession levels. This means that in 2012, 46.5 million, or about 1 in 6 Americans, lived in poverty.1 The poverty rate in most states also held steady with five states experiencing an increase in either the number or share of residents living in poverty while only two states saw a decline.2
Texas is a “Low Tax State” Overall, But Not for Families Living in Poverty
September 19, 2013 • By Meg Wiehe
Read the Report in PDF Form See all “Low Tax for Who?” states New data from the Census Bureau appear to lend support to Texas’ reputation as a “low tax state,” ranking it 40th nationally in taxes collected as a share of personal income. 1 But focusing on the state’s overall tax revenues has led […]
The Shorthorn: I want to disrupt what you think
September 18, 2013
(Original Post) Posted: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 12:45 am | Updated: 1:50 am, Wed Sep 18, 2013. Lindsey Juarez The Shorthorn staff teenage boy rode his bicycle to the DMV 16 years ago to get what many teenage boys dream of having: a driver’s license. The boy with jet black hair and olive eyes stood […]
Columbia Journalism Review: Invasion of the Job Snatcher
September 9, 2013
(Original Post) As the Missouri media takes up arms against Rick Perry, some facts and context get lost in the fray By Deron Lee FAIRWAY, KS — Texas and Missouri no longer square off as Big 12 opponents, but governors Rick Perry and Jay Nixon—with some help from Missouri’s media—have ignited a new interstate rivalry. […]
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