Study–Texas Has the 5th Most Unfair Tax System

We’re #5!
You have heard many times how Texas ranks 38th on state spending on public schools and 50th on state spending overall per resident.  Well, finally Texas ranks 5th in something.
Unfortunately, it’s in the ranking of how unfair our state and local tax system is.
Texas asks its lowest income families to pay four times as much in taxes, as a percentage of family income, than it requires of the 1% with the highest incomes.  And Texas asks its middle-income families to pay nearly three times as much in taxes as it does of the top 1%.
ITEP Who Pays
This ranks Texas as having the 5th most unfair (“regressive”) tax system in the country.
What’s worse is that, even though many Texas politicians  brag about the state’s low taxes, poor Texas families pay a higher percentage of their meager family incomes in state and local taxes than to similarly poor families in all but five other states.  That’s because even Texas’ relatively low taxes are distributed so unfairly that the poorest must still pay an unusually high percentage of their income to support public services.
All this information – and more – is contained in a report released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a well-regarded national tax research organization.  Here’s more on the full report.

Connect with Us
Policy Areas
Archives

Stay Connected