In fighting even the suggestion of proposing a conversation about talking about the possibility of suggesting an income tax in Washington State, opponents like to point to the huge economic advantages our current tax structure allegedly gives us. No income tax means more "job creators" will be attracted to our state, we are told, and more job creators means more jobs, higher incomes, and higher economic growth.
Except, that's total bullshit.
According to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), the economies of the nine states without a personal income tax (Washington included) have actually underperformed both the economies of the nine states with the highest income tax rates, and the 41 income tax states as a whole. Over the past decade real per capita GDP growth was only 5.2 percent in the non-income-tax states, compared 8.2 percent in the nine highest taxed states. Real median household income also fell further in the non-income-tax states, while unemployments were largely uniform across all three groups.
Washington actually did better than average on both per capita GDP and median income growth (while slightly worse on unemployment), but given the aggregate performance of the non-income-tax states it is impossible to argue that our lack of an income tax had anything to do with it. Unless you're an idiot. Or a liar.
The point is, there is zero evidence that our highly regressive sales-tax-dependent tax structure gives us any economic advantage whatsoever. So there.
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Texan job creation has far outpaced the national average. The number of jobs in Texas has grown by a truly impressive 31.5 percent since 1995, compared with just 12 percent nationwide, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data (see Figure One). Texas has also lapped California, an important economic rival and the only state with a larger population. The Texas employment situation after the financial crisis was far less spectacular, of course, with the number of jobs growing just 2.4 percent from 2009 through 2011. But that was still six times the anemic 0.4 percent growth rate of the overall American economy.
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In other words, the Lone Star State, with 8 percent of the U.S. population, created nearly a third of the country’s highest-paying positions. Texas also added 49,000 positions paying 125 percent to 150 percent of the U.S. average; the rest of the country lost 174,000 jobs in that category.
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two sectors in which Texas employment did particularly well during the same period were natural-resource extraction (in fact, the state gained 80 percent of all new jobs in the country in that field) and professional, scientific, and technical positions.Jobs due to random chance: An abundance of natural resources. This has nothing to do with taxes.
A major reason that Texas real estate is so affordable is that the state lacks the draconian land-use restrictions that drive California housing prices into the stratosphere.In other words, have fun living next door to an oil well and a string of shit hole fast food outlets, all covered, of course by never-ending power lines. Most of Texas is privately owned. Hope you don't like going to parks.
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