No, Texans Don’t Pay More Taxes than Californians

Dredging up old, questionable data to score some election year points, Democrats and their allies in the media are now claiming that Texans pay more in taxes than do Californians—which is surely news to the thousands of families who have fled the Golden State for the Lone Star State (and its lower taxes) in recent years.

Here’s how the Houston Chronicle is reporting the “news”:

“Robert Peroni, a tax professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, told the Express News that despite these findings first being published four years ago, not much has changed in the Lone Star State in relation to taxes,” the Chronicle explains. “Peroni added that states with income taxes, like California, actually do more to lower inequality.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. Californians pay $6,813, per capita in state and local taxes each year, according to the Tax Foundation. Texans pay $4,481 per year, per capita. That’s about two-thirds of what Californians pay.

Where’s the misinformation coming from? It’s in that study, a 2018 report from the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a left-leaning group funded by organized labor.

A final note about the ITEP’s report, and how it might relate to gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke’s campaign: The stated intent of that report was to push for Texas and other states to adopt a personal income tax. One section of the report, for example, makes the case that “Robust personal income taxes make state tax systems less regressive.” Thus, by touting this report, candidate O’Rourke is clearly calling for a Texas income tax—even if such a tax would harm economic growth, new job creation, and bring with it a higher real poverty rate.

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