Texas Monthly:The Governor Wants to Replace Property Taxes With ‘Consumption’ Taxes. That’s a Terrible Idea.

The trick, of course, is that consumption taxes are regressive, and property taxes are not. Again, because there’s no state income tax, the burden of funding state government falls disproportionately on poor and middle-class folks. The poorest half of Texans pay more than 10 percent of their annual income on state and local taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, making the state’s tax structure one of the most regressive in the country. Swapping property taxes for sales taxes would heap even more of that burden on those who can least afford it. Rich Texans have many lobbyists; poor Texans do not. Read more