Texas

State and local tax codes can do a lot to reduce inequality. But they add to the nation’s growing income inequality problem when they capture a greater share of income from low- or moderate-income taxpayers. These regressive tax codes also result in higher tax rates on communities of color, further worsening racial income and wealth divides.

While funding cuts to the IRS may have been necessary as a political matter to avoid harmful agency shutdowns, they are severely misguided as a policy matter. By all serious accounts, cuts to IRS funding increase the deficit due to uncollected taxes – mostly from big businesses and the very wealthy.

The Trump tax law overhaul cut the federal corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, but during the first five years it has been in effect, most profitable corporations paid considerably less than that.

State legislative sessions are in full swing with New Jersey and Oklahoma both particularly active this week...

It’s hard to go a week without seeing a politician or a news article hype up a state as the place that everyone is moving to – or should move to – because of low taxes. However, there’s a big problem with these proclamations: they aren’t true.  

Updated July 15, 2024 In 2024, state lawmakers have a choice: advance tax policy that improves equity and helps communities thrive, or push tax policies that disproportionately benefit the wealthy, drain funding for critical public services, and make it harder for low-income and working families to get ahead. Despite worsening state fiscal conditions, we expect […]

The findings of Who Pays? go a long way toward explaining why so many states are failing to raise the amount of revenue needed to provide full and robust support for our public schools.

The vast majority of state and local tax systems are upside-down, with the wealthy paying a far lesser share of their income in taxes than low- and middle-income families. Yet a few states have made strides to buck that trend and have tax codes that are somewhat progressive and therefore do not worsen inequality.

The vast majority of state and local tax systems are upside-down, with the wealthy paying a far lesser share of their income in taxes than low- and middle-income families. That’s according to the latest edition of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s Who Pays?, the only distributional analysis of tax systems in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Texas Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in Texas, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.5 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in Texas. State and local tax shares of family income Top 20% Income Group […]

Though Turkey Day has passed, lawmakers in states across the U.S. have yet to get their fill of delicious tax policy goodness...

States differ dramatically in how much they allow families to make choices about whether and when to have children and how much support they provide when families do. But there is a clear pattern: the states that compel childbirth spend less to help children once they are born.

Voters had the chance to impact tax policy across the country on election day, and some chose to enact common-sense reforms to raise revenue...

November elections are creeping closer and closer and while that typically means a new batch of lawmakers are elected, it also means voters have another chance to help shape state and local tax policy...

Even in this slow year for candidate elections, the decisions that voters in states and cities make could strengthen or weaken revenue for needs in their communities and could change how taxes are distributed across the income spectrum. In the places where tax fairness is on the ballot, much is at stake.

Sen. Sinema's bill to stop a seemingly arcane business tax increase that was enacted as part of the 2017 Trump tax law would be hugely beneficial to the private equity industry.

Sales tax holidays are bad policies that have too often been used as a substitute for more meaningful, permanent reform.

The Dog Days of summer are upon us, and with most states out of session and extreme heat waves making their way across the country, it’s a perfect time to sit back and catch up on all your favorite state tax happenings (ideally with a cool drink in hand)...

Too many state and local governments tap legal-system collections, rather than adequate tax systems, to fund shared essentials like public safety and education. But a growing number of states and localities are choosing a better approach. Momentum for change has continued to build in 2023, with no fewer than seven states enacting substantial improvements.

Most state legislatures have adjourned for 2023, and that means it’s a perfect time to look at the tax policy trends that have formed thus far...

We can make modest reforms to better tax those who are taking a larger share of our wealth and income in order to reinforce a major pillar of our promise to Americans.

From coast to coast, state governors have been busy inking their signature on a growing list of consequential budget and tax bills...

The trend of state lawmakers taking big steps on important tax credits like the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit is coming out in full force this week...