As we already know, among
list of about 60 various taxes collected by our Comptroller, income tax will
not be on that list. Instead we see a few that are quite unclear or just silly.
For example: the Cement
Production Tax, collecting 55 cents per ton of cement from the person who
manufactures or produces cement in Texas. The only other state that I have seen
with a similar tax is Montana. Get this: the Oyster Sales Fee, which collects
one dollar for every “300lb-barrel of oysters taken from Texas waters” due the
20th day of every month.
Due quarterly is the Fee on
Sexually Oriented Businesses Tax, which puts you out of a sexy 5 dollars for
every “entry” by the customer admitted to the business. I doubt that previous
tax is so rare for other states, but it still is pretty fun to look at the
specifics and numbers of some of these taxes not really seen by the common man
(or woman.)
Concluding my list but definitely not the last on the tax list is the Pari-Mutuel Tax. This tax is imposed on money wagered on Horse and Greyhound Racing, including during broadcasts. 1% is collected per about 100 million dollars for live pools or horses or greyhounds. A report must be received by the comptroller the business day following a race.
The fact that these
seemingly strange taxes exist really makes me wonder what kind of revenue is
built from these taxes specifically. I wonder if these are a result of
compensation for a nonexistent income tax.
The more I really learn about Texas and its political structure, the weirder I end up thinking our great state is. Mr. Barrada’s continued saga on Texas’ taxes is an amusing look into what Texas ends up doing to make up for our lack of a state income tax. If you take a peek at the State Comptroller’s website, you’re presented with a list of taxes the state levies. Sure, there’s the normal stuff – taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, gasoline, car sales – but there’s also the fun stuff, like the taxes on sulphur production and fireworks! Or, you know, on the sale of oysters. Most of the state’s money comes from sales tax and from our fossil fuel industry, but we still get a lot of money from those “other” taxes.
ReplyDeleteIt’s not so much a question of why we don’t have an income tax – come on, we live in Texas, nobody wants one – but a question of why we should have one. In his previous blog post on the lack of income tax in our state, Justin mentions the handful of other states that also don’t levy an income tax against its citizens. Included in this list are such densely populated and complexly structured states as Alaska, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Sure, for these states, a state income tax might not be necessary – do whatever works for your state. But Texas falls to the back of the pack in per-capita spending – we might make just enough money to string our legislature together once every two years, but we don’t make enough to keep our schools adequately funded or to provide our poor with food.
We live in a paradoxical state. As Justin’s first post states (further supplemented by information from Texas on the Brink), we are a land of capital and a land of plenty – business loves us. But we’re also a land that doesn’t do a great job of taking care of its people – again, we don’t spend very much on education, on healthcare or food supplementation for our poor, on environmental regulation. For those who can afford it, it’s great – but not so much for everyone else. In my mind, there’s no right or wrong way to tax your citizens – you just have to find the best fit. While many in Texas would say that our lack of income tax is one of the many perks of being a citizen (Justin is right about all those Californians), this is maybe not what those who don’t benefit from our regressive tax system think.