Taxes in Texas

Texans are among the luckiest taxpayers in the nation

Consider yourself lucky to be paying taxes in Texas.

Courtesy photo

Tax day is looming, but there's a glimmer of hope for those who call Texas home. Ahead of the filing deadline (you've got until April 18 this year), our friends at WalletHub have analyzed the highest and lowest tax burdens by state, and Texans have it pretty good.

According to WalletHub, Texas has the 10th lowest tax burden in the U.S., only 7.67 percent. In comparison, a resident of New York — the state with the highest tax burden — pays 13.12 percent of his or her total personal income to the state.

True, Texas is one of seven states without a state income tax, but we make up for it in other areas.

Texans are saddled with some of the highest state property taxes in the country — our property tax burden of 3.56 percent ranks No. 14. And we have a sales and gross receipts tax burden of 4.11 percent, the 15th highest in America.

If you want to save more dough, consider a move to Alaska, Delaware, or Tennessee, which boast the three lowest tax burdens. On the opposite end of the spectrum are New York (No. 1), Hawaii (No. 2), and Maine (No. 3), where residents shell out the most money.

wallethub reports rankings texas

Keeping The Lights On?

ERCOT meteorologist predicts higher chance of extreme cold this winter

Photo courtesy of KVUE

ERCOT says it has improved its reliability, but other Texans aren't sure it's enough.

The lead meteorologist for the state’s power grid operator, ERCOT, is predicting both a warmer winter and a higher chance of extreme cold.

During a Tuesday board meeting, Chris Coleman said current climate patterns are very similar to those in 2021 when a winter storm knocked out power for millions of Texans for several days.

“Now, that doesn’t mean we’re going to have [Winter Storm] Uri, but it does again say that we’re in a pattern that supports something like a Uri this winter,” said Coleman, ERCOT's supervisor of operational forecasting.

Coleman compared his winter forecast to a tornado watch: The conditions are there, but the storm may or may not happen.

ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told KVUE on November 25 that he doesn’t expect calls for conservation or rolling blackouts.

“We're ready for those kinds of conditions at ERCOT,” said Vegas.

During Tuesday’s board meeting, Vegas touted nearly 3,000 weatherization inspections since 2021 and more than 10,000 megawatts of new generation added to the grid since March, mostly solar and battery storage. ERCOT estimates 1 megawatt can power 250 homes on average during peak winter demand.

However, Texas energy consultant Doug Lewin questions that math.

“[We are] better off than we were in February 2021 but not out of the woods,” said Lewin, who authors the Texas Energy and Power Hour newsletter and hosts the Energy Capital podcast. “We don’t have a system that’s resilient enough to deal with a Winter Storm Uri.”

Lewin points to two main reasons: a natural gas supply system he says is not adequately winterized, along with inefficient homes and buildings that push demand beyond supply.

“We have to bring that demand down and do that by increasing the programs we have for energy efficiency to replace inefficient heat with much more efficient forms of heat, like heat pumps.”

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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