The state of Texas should not adopt a personal income tax. Any legislator who would propose a bill seeking to establish a state income tax would be seriously questioned, because a state income tax is currently unconstitutional.
The Texas Constitution was amended in 1993, during Governor William P. Clements’ second administration, to prohibit a state income tax. Therefore, any such proposal would have serious difficulties passing both chambers of the legislature and then it would be subject to ratification through a statewide referendum. Texas’ lack of a state income tax seems to have enhanced its economy vitality with this approach. It also lacks a corporate income tax, which is not prohibited by the Constitution. Texas is one of seven
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This was also claimed as a benefit of the Texas Lottery and look what happened to that? It is all well and good to say something will work but until it is in place, would one not know for sure. Unfortunately, the cost of implementing such a personal tax would blow the benefits right out of the water. It would be not be cost effective to propose such a tax, since the start up costs would be prohibitive. Both counties and cities receive huge revenues in their collection of sales tax. To consider cutting that back would be …show more content…
This could cut the local tax rate – in most school districts now around $1.50 per $100 of property value for maintenance and operations (M&O) – to roughly 50 cents! The maximum M&O tax rate – also now generally capped at $1.50 – must be reduced by the same percentage as total M&O taxes. If the income tax cut the property tax rate by 65%, then it would also cut the tax cap by 65%. After the cap was cut, only the voters in a school district could increase their district’s maximum tax rate. The Bullock Amendment then provides that the remaining one-third of income tax revenue could be spent, but only on education. State income tax payments are deductible from taxable income in calculating federal income taxes. Deductibility shifts part of the cost of public education to the federal government. The above chart shows that, although the tax would have raised $16.4 billion in 2004, the net cost to Texas taxpayers would have been only $3.9 billion. Lower property taxes would have returned most of the new revenue ($10.9 billion) to taxpayers. Uncle Sam would have picked up 10% of the total cost of the income tax ($1.6 billion) through higher deductions on federal tax
Texas has been through a lot of changes and constitutions. After constants debates of what the constitution should be, the current Texas constitution was established in 1876 and is the 7th constitution Texas has had. It created 3 branches of government: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The current constitution has great qualities, but it also contains a lot of weaknesses that shouldn’t be ignored for the sake of pride.
Property taxes in Texas have not always been the most favorite bill a citizen has to pay, some are large bills and some are small bills. Many legislatures and governors have played a role when it comes to property taxes and how much each citizen should be taxed. Depending on the area you live in, when it comes to school districts many have to pay taxes for more than one school district.
Texas is one of the most powerful states in the union. Texas seems to thrive when other states are going under. Maybe the writers of the New Texas Constitution got it right. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
The process of a bill becoming a law in the state of Texas can be harsh and brutal. With the number of complicated steps accompanied by the forces of many different delay tactics, the process can prove to be exhausting.
The state of Texas does not have a state income tax. States collect taxes to generate revenue to operate. Texas collects the necessary funds from property and sales taxes. As of 2014, there are only seven states that do not collect an individual income tax. The other six states are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming. Tennessee and New Hampshire have a limited tax on individuals, taxing only dividends and interest income. The lack of individual income tax is protected by Article 8 of the Texas State Constitution, which limits potential tax in the future as well. Texas funds itself through a 6.25% sales tax, taxes on motor vehicle sales and fuel, and taxes and royalties on oil and natural-gas production. Texas has
As we all know, Texas is a conservative state, meaning it holds to its traditional beliefs, laws, and values; it also is very cautious about any kind of change, commonly related to politics or religion. This, unquestionably makes me think Texas voters would not support this idea, making it impossible to happen. Of course, this is not an easy decision, principally because it involves modifying the Texas Constitution, yet I consider this to be a “necessary evil,” meaning that the idea might not be supported or accepted by everyone, but still might be imperative for the development of not only our state but our society.
There is no doubt that Texas’s state government is one of the most conservative in the nation on both an economic and social level. As a governing body Texas has fought to deregulate itself on the bases that a weak government translates to strong personal liberties. The political culture of the state is apparent to all who live there. However, in recent history Texas has proven to be a solid competitor when offering tax rebates to filmmakers and videogame creators who produce their content in the state. These rebates refund some of the production costs and are widely considered to be beneficial to employment within the state’s entertainment and tourism industry (Weed). Sadly, in 2015 Texas lawmakers cut the previously impressive budget for
Texas has been increasingly using money from the federal government since 1977. To this date, the revenue has doubled since 1977. Therefore, Texas would have trouble getting there resources.
In chapter 10 of Lone Star Tarnished, the author, Cal Jillson explores the development of the state of Texas’ tax policy. He explains that over about the last three decades there have been some major challenges develop involving the state tax revenue including the fact that it is dramatically declining. It is also mentioned that with the Texas Republican Party being the majority party in the state, with no change in site, having implemented the ideology of no new taxes, that any proposed solutions to adjust the state tax policy will probably be rejected. Jillson does however offer some solutions that could resolve some of the issues with the tax policy in the state if the Republican Party would implement them. These solutions include a constitutional reform to amend some of the tax laws in the state to institute a few new taxes such as corporate tax and raising some taxes such as the sales taxes by about half a cent. According to Jillson, these tax modifications could generate more than a billion dollars in revenue for the state, giving it a small sense of financial relief. Even though these proposed solutions could benefit the state, they are no likely to occur because of the low to no tax perception that both Texas government and citizens
Texas’ voter ID law is one of the strictest in the nation. Discriminatory evidence the majority opinion might see is in the list of acceptable forms of identification. There are seven acceptable forms of identification, which includes a handgun license, but not a student ID. This can be seen as discriminatory towards students who possess a student ID, but not one of the forms of identification specified by the voter ID law. On the basis that younger voters tend to lean towards Democratic opinions. Certain Justices of the Court, like Ginsburg, might find this as proof that with the voter ID law, Texas legislatures are trying to refrain from demographic changes of the state. The law is discriminatory against minorities and poor voters in that not all of these individuals have one of the acceptable forms of identification. Accessing one of these forms of identification could be costly and inconvenient. In order to obtain a Texas ID or drivers license, one must visit a DMV. This can be difficult for individuals who live a significant distance from a DMV and those who do not have a
There has been seven Texas Constitutions since 1827 including our current Constitution, which was established on 1876. Our current constitution has been amended hundreds of times because of its tight restrictions. The Legislative department is the dominant branch of the Texas Constitution it is subject to check and balances in the tripartite system. The Executive department limits the government’s power, and the judicial powers is divided into smaller courts. These three branches of the Texas are examples of how restricted and limited our constitution is.
There is a large ethical question that is brought up when you consider a sales tax or consumption tax to be the sole source of revenue for a state. The State of Texas uses a sales tax to generate its revenue, which is used for many public services that are needed to keep our family safe. Many people feel that this tax form is unfair to the poor, because they are having to pay the same tax as someone who makes much more than them. At a glance, this really does not seem fair, but when you look deeper you can find other ways that this type of taxation is more fair than an income tax would be.
The reason for putting the special tax on the ballot is two-fold. It would help achieve payment equity among residents and it would increase funding enabling the restoration of services for 6,000 street lights, 27,000 parcels and eight parks. Already City Council voted on July 1 to eliminate property assessment fees by creating a Community
As it stands right now, the government has individual taxes for individual needs. The key thing to remember is that regardless of what those needs may be, and the demand for them allows money to get allotted. Under this 15% sales tax all the money goes to the federal government, and it is distributed as needed. Essentially, this makes the government more efficient, and much more simple.
The words “income taxes” make people cringe at the beginning of every year. Every year we must file paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service by April 15th and worry if we owe the United States Government money or not. But, what if they replaced the income tax with a National Sales Tax? A National Sales Tax would be a consumption tax. A consumption tax would be charged when consumers buy goods. This tax, although higher than current local sales tax, would be the same concept, it would be added to the retail price of products. There are advantages and disadvantages to having a National Sales Tax that will be discussed further below.