AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation applauds Sen. Craig Estes for his filing of Senate Bill 113, repealing Texas’ margin tax, and offers its full support of the legislation.

“The Texas margin tax is an experiment that has failed,” said Talmadge Heflin, Director of TPPF’s Center for Fiscal Policy. “We look forward to working with Sen. Estes and his colleagues to eliminate this costly, complicated tax and get Texas’ job creation machine hitting on all cylinders.”

“With the near-certainty of increased taxes and regulations imposed at the federal level, Texas needs to make sure its business climate is as competitive as possible with other states,” said TPPF President Brooke Rollins. “The margin tax has tarnished our state’s reputation for being business friendly and proven to be particularly harmful to small, startup companies. The Texas Legislature needs to repeal the margin tax next year.”

“The last several days have provided a vivid demonstration how higher taxes on business erode the opportunities available to people on the lower rungs of the economic ladder,” said TPPF Vice President of Communications Chuck DeVore. “Now more than ever, Texas needs to be the beacon of economic opportunity. Given that Texas’ state spending has grown at more than twice the rate of population and inflation since 1990, our state should be able to eliminate the margin tax while retaining enough revenue to fund the state’s core functions.”

Talmadge Heflin is director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Brooke Rollins is president and chief executive officer of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Chuck DeVore is Vice President of Communications and Senior Fellow 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.

Primary website: www.TexasPolicy.com

Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/TexasPublicPolicyFoundation

Twitter feed: www.Twitter.com/TPPF

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