If a person was making $25000 a year in Texas,say?

Question

Wouldn't the burden of taxes be less for that person than another person who lived in a state with an income tax structure,even the state without an income tax would have a more regressive tax structure?

Answer 1

You would think so, but it's not necessarily the case. Sure, they'd pay less INCOME tax but it's entirely possible that they would pay more in TOTAL taxes. In fact, that's the prime reason that I left TX! My total tax bill there, including some insanely high property taxes, was higher than it is here in MO which has an income tax!

I'd be paying over $2,000 per year more in total taxes if I stayed in TX and lived in a home with a similar value to the one I live in here in MO. And actually it would be more than that because unless I lived in Kileen or some godforsaken backwater, I'd have to pay more for a house as nice as the one I have now.

Just because a state doesn't have an income tax, don't think that you're getting a bargain. If a state doesn't levy an income tax, they have to get their money someplace OR cut services. Most of the services we got in TX were similar to what we get here in MO, it just costs a HELL of a lot more in taxes to get them in TX. Many wags in TX spell "Texas" as "Taxas" or Taxa$" for good reason!