Conventional wisdom in politics says voters begin paying attention after Labor Day. And when election season collides with football season, campaigns know where to find us—watching our favorite teams.
Political money is about to flood the airwaves. During timeouts and halftime, candidates and political groups will compete for our attention.
Watching the Cowboys game Sunday night, you may have noticed the commercials were already running.
One commercial warned Texans about a state income tax. Let’s talk about it.
Lucky for us – between now and Election Day, candidates will spend millions of dollars on TV commercials, digital ads and political mail. These ads are not meant to help us understand what our state leaders can actually do.
And let’s be honest. Political commercials are not meant to tell the whole story. They often simplify complicated issues and use fear to leave voters with a lasting impression.
So before we allow a 30-second commercial to influence our vote, in the case of a state income tax, let’s look at what Texas law actually says.
Here is the most important fact: Texas voters have already banned it.
The history lesson starts in 1993.
At that time, the Texas Constitution allowed the Legislature to impose a personal income tax through ordinary legislation, without first asking Texas voters.
Democratic Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock believed a change that significant should require voter approval, and he helped push a constitutional amendment that gave Texans the final say.
The amendment did not create an income tax, and it did not ask Texans whether they wanted one. Instead, it required any proposed personal income tax—and the proposed rate—to be approved by voters statewide before it could take effect.
It also required at least two-thirds of the revenue to be used to reduce school property-tax rates. The remaining revenue had to support education.
Lawmakers could ask the question, but Texas voters kept the key. Voters approved the amendment with 69.3% for and 30.7% against.
For the next two decades, that was the law. Texas had no personal income tax, but the Constitution left open the possibility that voters could approve one as part of a tax swap— using income taxes as a possible “third leg of the stool” idea for a system depending heavily on property and sales taxes.
Then, in 2019, some lawmakers decided the 1993 language did not go far enough. Republicans Rep. Jeff Leach and Sen. Pat Fallon proposed banning a personal income tax outright, and it received exactly the 100 votes needed to pass the House and passed the Senate 22–9.
Supporters said it was time to close the door completely. Opponents said voters already had the power and warned that Texas was giving up a future way to reduce property taxes and pay for public schools. Democrat candidate Governor Gina Hinojosa argued the latter.
Voters approved the 2019 constitutional amendment banning a state income tax: 74.4% for and 25.6% against. The Texas Constitution now says: “The legislature may not impose a tax on the net incomes of individuals.”
A prohibition. That is where the law stands.
That means, in plain terms, a governor cannot create a state income tax by executive order or slip one into the state budget, and the Legislature cannot pass a bill to create one. To reopen the question, lawmakers would have to propose another constitutional amendment, and Texas voters would have to approve it.
That gives voters with another question: How much attention should this settled issue receive when so many kitchen-table concerns remain unresolved?
Families are worried about rising property appraisals and tax bills. They are worried about electricity, insurance, healthcare, housing, and groceries. Rural communities like ours are worried about keeping public schools open, maintaining roads and finding enough water for the future.
These are issues state leaders have the power to address: rising appraisals and property-tax bills, public-school funding, reliable electricity and long-term water supplies. Data centers have made the infrastructure questions more urgent, especially in rural Texas, where local communities are asking how much power and water these projects will require, who will pay for new infrastructure and how much say residents will have.
These are decisions Texas officials will face over the next four years—and concrete issues for voters to ask candidates about this election season. Texans should be hearing specific plans for property taxes, public schools, water, electricity and data centers—and how those plans will affect whether families can afford to live, work and raise their children here.
So when the next commercial interrupts the Cowboys game and warns that a state income tax is coming, remember what it leaves out:
Texas voters already settled that question.
Now let’s talk about the problems that still need to be solved.
Suzanne Bellsnyder is editor and publisher of the Hansford County Reporter-Statesman and Sherman County Gazette. A former Capitol staffer with decades of experience in Texas politics and policy, she now focuses on how state decisions shape rural life through her newspapers and Texas Rural Reporter column. Subscribe at TexasRuralReporter.Substack.com