Personal Income Tax in Texas

When it comes to implementing a personal income tax in Texas, many have differing opinions. Some say it is beneficial because it brings jobs to the state, while others believe it is hurting the poor.

Opponents to bringing a state personal income tax say that not having an income tax brings innovation and job growth. They often compare Texas to the rest of the country during the recent recession as back up to their argument. They also say having no income tax helps keep young, educated individuals in the state to work.

People who want Texas to implement a state tax say not having a personal income tax hurts the poor. Studies have shown the poor is taxed a greater amount, as percentage of their income, when a state has no personal income tax. No personal income tax has been a factor leading cities and school districts to be underfunded, which requires them to go into debt. They have to pay for more things because the state does not have the funds to pay. This requires Texans to be taxed at a higher rate on other things, like their property.

I think Texas should keep their no personal income tax policy. While there are some problems within Texas regarding their personal income tax policy, at a mere glance, the Texas tax policy looks promising. The reason Texas does not have the money to build things like new roads or fund education is not only because they do not collect personal income tax. For example, Texas has not raised their tax on gasoline, of which a portion of it goes to transportation and education, since 1991.  Texas could implement a personal income tax and have less taxes other places, including property tax, but it would likely not look as appealing to people thinking about living in Texas. This would mean Texas could lose much of its innovation and growth we prided ourselves on.  While correlation may not mean causation, many states think because Texas has no personal income tax, it did very well during The Great Recession of 2008. Texas has come out of the recession on top. Personal income tax may not have been the deciding factor of that, but implementing a personal income tax will NOT help Texas stay on top. 

Texas Toll Roads

On September 5, 2014, Burnt Orange Report posted an article written by Joe Deshotel about a possible Texas toll road default. In his article, Joe tries to grab the attention of Texans, specifically tax paying Texans, by saying things like the toll roads were a “bad idea for tax payers.”

Deshotel carefully outlines his arguments, using various secondary sources including articles from Texas Tribune, Houston Chronical, Rolling Stone, and Texans for Toll-free Highways, to undermine the Texas Tollways and Rick Perry. Deshotel argued that Perry has done a disservice to Texas by allowing Cintra, a Spain toll operator, to get too far into debt when building “the NAFTA superhighway”. Deshotel then made Perry seem anti-American by discussing all the foreign companies Perry used while governor of Texas.

Deshotel, however, never talks about the growing population of Texas and how these roads could be key for transporting people as our population grows, or how multiple other states have used foreign companies, including Cintra, to build their toll roads. 

At the end of his article, Deshotel argues that Perry is not pro-America like he claims to be because he had foreign companies assist Texas government operations. When Perry was making the decisions as Texas governor, not The United States President. As many know, Texas government is pro-Texas business, innovation, et cetera. Perry did what he thought was best of the TEXAS government because that’s what he was in charge of doing. If he were the president of our country, he would likely do what is in the best interest of the whole country.

Because Deshotel failed to share the other side of all his arguments and give counterarguments to the other side, he fails to give solid information to his readers. 

Minimum Wage Argument

On June 29, 2015, Big JollyPolitics posted an argument written by Jonathan Hansen, a Houston City Council candidate, on why Houston should not raise their minimum wage.  The article is intended for the people that live within the city limits of Houston, specifically the young people. Although, this article is beneficial for all Texans and Americans. Jonathan Hansen has a BBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and has proven he has done extensive research in his article, which makes him a credible source.

Hansen argues that Houston should not raise their minimum wage because of multiple factors. Hansen first points out that minimum wage, which he calls “training wage”, jobs can allow individuals to gain experience and knowledge required to have higher paying jobs. These jobs with “training wages” can help young individuals decide what career path they want take and can help motivate young people to go to school. Hansen expressed that employers may not be able to take on as many employees if the minimum wage was raised because labor costs tend to be 30% of revenue. In order to keep the labor to revenue ratio, businesses would have to raise their product prices. Then, Hansen provides research that shows only about a .5% of the nation’s population are people that earn minimum wage or less and live in impoverished households. That means there are 4,918 Houstonians earning minimum wage and are living in impoverishe

d households.

Hansen then began to show possible implications of raising the minimum wage in the Houston city limits. This included the possibility of some business relocating outside the city limits, raising their prices, laying off people (which contributes to more impoverished people in Houston) and increasing the workload of other employees.

Personally, I agree with everything Hansen has to say regarding minimum wage. While in theory it may sound good, in practice there are many implications it will bring and Hansen was smart to show real world examples of problems when raising the minimum wage. 

Tesla in Texas

On July 14, The Texas Tribune confirmed Governor Greg Abbott has no plans to create a policy loophole for Tesla in Texas. Currently Tesla cannot directly sell their vehicles to consumers in Texas. Texan Tesla consumers can however buy the cars online. Abbott’s does not want to give Tesla a loophole because they do not have a dealership to repair cars. Tesla’s current business model simplifies car buying by selling cars directly from the vehicle manufacture, not a third party dealership. Traditional dealerships have lobbied strongly against this because it disrupts their business model.

Because Abbott does not want to allow Tesla to sell cars in Texas, he is disrupting the free market.  This goes against core Texan values. Abbott is even quoted saying the automobile sector is “very open”. If the sector were actually “open”, Texas would allow Tesla to sell their cars. Regarding Abbott’s statement about Tesla not having a dealership to repair cars, Tesla already has three service centers in Texas to repair cars. Governor Greg Abbott’s decision is disrupting the free market and is hurting innovation, which would also help consumers, in Texas.