WHEREAS, Texas Proposition 4, the Prohibit State Income Tax on Individuals Amendment, seeks to preclude future state legislatures from re-examining Texas’s tax policies via democratic discussion;

WHEREAS, Texas Proposition 4 intends to prevent a state income tax, a means of progressive taxation, from ever being levied, thereby leaving regressive methods of taxation as the only means for Texas to collect taxes;

WHEREAS, regressive taxation unfairly burdens lower-income and working-class families by having them pay a far larger share of their income than the upper class in taxation;

WHEREAS, regressive taxation, in particular sales taxes, exacerbate the rapid widening of income inequality between the elitist capitalist class and all others;

WHEREAS, Texas has the second-most regressive system of taxation amongst all states, with the current effective tax rate for the bottom 20 percent of wage-earners in Texas — more than quadruple the effective tax rate of the top 1 percent of wage-earners in Texas;

WHEREAS, states that utilize state income taxes come the closest to parity in effective tax rates across the income scale;

WHEREAS, states that rely on more progressive taxation are more likely  to experience the revenue growth needed to fund improvements to public goods such as schools, infrastructure, and healthcare programs;

WHEREAS, decisions regarding taxation should be made through democratic discussion  and should not be prohibited or made subject to dilatory tactics;

BE IT RESOLVED, the Houston chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (Houston DSA) opposes Texas Proposition 4, the Prohibit State Income Tax on Individuals Amendment.

BE IT RESOLVED, Houston DSA endorses a “NO” vote on Texas Proposition 4 for the 2019 General Election.

BE IT RESOLVED, Houston DSA seeks to maintain an unencumbered democratic process so that future generations of Texans may decide what system of taxation works best for them rather than being constitutionally prohibited from doing so.

Passed at the Houston DSA October 2019 General Meeting.