AUSTIN – Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation released new research outlining problems with the business margin tax. The paper, “Failures of Texas’ Business Margin Tax,” explains that the business margin tax impedes Texas’ economic competitiveness. The Honorable Talmadge Heflin, director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s (TPPF) Center for Fiscal Policy and former chairman of the Texas House Committee on Appropriations, and TPPF Economist Dr. Vance Ginn issued the following statement on the findings:
“We applaud the work legislators did last session to cut the onerous business margin tax for a total value of $2.6 billion, but there’s more work to do,” said Heflin. “The business margin tax is so complex and costly that it fails as good public policy and hinders Texans from reaching their full potential.”
“Though legislators have taken steps to reduce the state’s business margin tax burden, they should eliminate it, thereby increasing the state’s competitive advantage that supports economic prosperity,” said Ginn. “Given the substantial compliance costs and devastating nature of a gross receipts-style tax, it’s not enough to keep tinkering around the edges with this tax.”
To read the full report, please visit: http://txpo.li/failure-of-margin-tax
The Honorable Talmadge Heflin is the Director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. In the 78th Session, Heflin served as chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations.
Vance Ginn, Ph.D. is an Economist in the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.