Texas Taxes

I was recently ask, "why are Texas taxes so darn high compared to the rest of the US"?     

And so I say

Like most Americans, Texans, Austinites and SRCC dwellers, my wife and I don’t like paying more than is our share of taxes.    However, this is where there’s a conflict.   We also want better streets, parks and more street lamps.   We want more police patrols and recycling options.   We want better schools and higher paid teachers, with more computers for science and fully developed art/music programs.   We want clean water, reasonable traffic and lots of libraries that are open late.  The conflict is that all of these things cost money; money that our state and local governments take from us and our neighbors in the form of taxes.

  

Texas has a very low tax rate as compared to the rest of the country.     We are one of 7 states with no income tax, as compared to California at 8.0% and New York at 6.85%.   State sales tax is also another area where Texas is not at the top of the list.    States with the highest sales tax are:  #1 California at 8.75%, #2 Indiana & Mississippi at 7%.   Texas is tied for 9^th at 6.25%.

Where Travis County does fall behind is property taxes.   Of the 722 counties in the US with populations over 65K, Travis is 65^th for average real-estate taxes paid.  We are the 3^rd highest in Texas (behind Collin & Fort Bend Counties).    Williamson County is 79^th, Harris County (Houston) is 165^th, Dallas county is 193^rd and Bexar (San Antonio) is 226rd in the US.

However, if you look at ALL the taxes cumulatively for every state, Texas is at the bottom at 43^rd.  Alaskans pay the least, 6.4%, then Nevada 6.6%, Wyoming 7.0%, Florida 7.4%, New Hampshire 7.6%, South Dakota 7.9%, Tennessee 8.3% and Texas 8.4%.   The national average is 9.7% down from 9.9% in 2007.

Statistics from www.taxfoundation.org from 2007