Still Waiting For Republicans To Lower Your Taxes After Three Decades?

Economic populism is the antidote to three decades of lies.

The special session is still happening, and my schedule for the next thirteen weeks is absurd, but I’m making it work. I’ve been watching the Lege a little. They suck, and there’s no democracy left in Texas. Republicans will ram through whatever they want. Most Democrats will fight them, but the border Dems will largely capitulate. Many Republican legislators have been promising to lower their constituents’ taxes for years, despite the fact that they continue to rise every year.

Texas is one of the most regressive tax systems in the country. That means that low- and middle-income households pay a larger share of income in state/local taxes than the top 1%.

Republicans in Texas have fought tooth and nail to ban a state income tax (which would hit wealthy earners hardest) and instead rely on sales and property taxes (which eat up a far bigger share of a working family’s paycheck).

That structure shifts the tax burden down the ladder:

• The poorest Texans pay nearly double the share of their income in state and local taxes compared to the top 1%.

• Sales taxes hit everyday necessities while luxury spending and investment income are spared.

• Property taxes rise in tandem with home appraisals, squeezing homeowners and renters, while large corporations receive exemptions, abatements, and special deals.

Republicans then turn around and brag that Texas has “no income tax” and is a “low tax” state. In reality, it’s only low tax if you’re rich. For everyone else, the state makes up the difference by taxing groceries at the checkout line and piling costs into rent and mortgage bills.

It’s a classic GOP policy. Protect the wealthy, shift costs to the working and middle class, and call it freedom.

Yet, if you talk to any Texas Republican or read any Republican legislator’s social media comments, their base is somehow convinced that Republicans in Austin are not only planning to reduce their taxes, but also eliminate them.

Texas Democrats need to talk about taxes.

If Democrats in Texas want to win, they can’t just rail against Republican corruption (even though there is a lot of it). They need a populist economic message that includes taxes. Sixty-five percent of Texans are homeowners, and across the political spectrum, people are being taxed out of their homes. Why? Because Republicans in Austin refuse to adequately fund public schools, forcing school districts and local governments to hike property taxes year after year.

Republicans engineered this squeeze. They starve the schools, push the costs onto counties and cities, then pretend they’re fighting for the taxpayer. It’s a scam. And it’s working, because Democrats aren’t countering it.

Here’s the truth. Taxes can be lowered if the state stops giving away billions in handouts, subsidies, and carve-outs for the wealthy and corporations. If the state shoulders a bigger share of school funding, homeowners get relief. If corporate loopholes are closed, working families can actually breathe again.

That’s the message Democrats need to hammer. Working people pay more because the rich pay less. Texas Democrats understand that taxes are an inherent part of living in a community, but they deserve a fair and equitable system. If Democrats connect economic policy with tax policy, jobs, wages, schools, AND the property-tax squeeze, they can finally flip the script Republicans have been writing for decades.

The populist message Texas Democrats need to run on in 2026.

If you’re running for office in 2026, your campaign needs to be rooted in economic populism from the left. They want to know who will fight for them, for their families, and for their interests, especially as bad as Trump is about to screw things up.

Left populism means drawing a clear line. Are you on the side of working people, or the billionaires and corporations that bankroll the GOP?

It means talking about bread-and-butter issues in plain language and showing Texans that their struggles, high property taxes, low wages, medical debt, and unaffordable housing aren’t natural or inevitable. They’re the product of deliberate Republican choices that put profits over people.

In practice, left populism means demanding tax fairness by shifting the burden back onto corporations and the wealthy, closing loopholes, and fully funding schools so homeowners and renters finally get relief.

It means fighting for higher wages, stronger unions, and an economy where workers, not just CEOs, share in the prosperity.

It means calling out the cruelty of refusing Medicaid expansion while rural hospitals close, and pushing for universal, affordable healthcare.

It means tackling the housing crisis head-on by standing up to developers and landlords who price families out and using state power to expand affordable options.

It means investing in the public goods that make life dignified for everyone, such as schools, roads, broadband, childcare, and utilities.

That’s left populism. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the majority of Texans who are getting squeezed, and naming the villains who are doing the squeezing. (Namely Republicans.)

And yes, Democrats believe in civil rights and liberty for every Texan. That’s non‑negotiable.

Are you listening, Colin? So when Republicans launch those disgusting attacks on the transgender community, we don’t blame the victims or turn our backs. We stand with them.

We remind people that every Texan deserves dignity and liberty, and that Republicans are the ones obsessed with policing other people’s bodies and genitals. That obsession isn’t just cruel, it’s sick. If they spent half as much energy fixing schools, lowering property taxes, or funding healthcare as they do obsessing over kids’ genitals, this state would actually be a better place to live.

Remember, this is the same Republican Party that many voted against ending child marriages, not only six months ago. The same Republican Party that voted against allowing school libraries to carry books about consent.

In 2026, we focus on economic messaging, and if Republicans want to bring up anything else, we have to remind the whole Epstein cover-up party how sick they are.

A meme for you to share on social media (regularly):

Texas Republicans have spent decades building a system that taxes working families to the bone, guts our schools, attacks our freedoms, and calls it “liberty.”

They’ve handed the wealthy everything while the rest of us get squeezed harder every year. And unless Democrats fight back with a clear populist message, tax fairness, wages, healthcare, housing, and dignity for every Texan, the GOP will keep running the same scam.

The good news is that the cracks are starting to show. Texans know they’re paying too much in property taxes. They know their schools are underfunded. They know their hospitals are closing. They know their wages aren’t keeping up with the cost of living. And they know Republicans don’t have answers, only distractions, scapegoats, and culture-war obsessions.

So here’s the playbook. Connect tax policy to economic policy, connect economic policy to people’s everyday struggles, and call Republicans what they are, sick, corrupt grifters obsessed with control. Then offer a real alternative rooted in fairness, community, and freedom.

If Democrats do that in 2026, we won’t just win seats. We’ll win the argument. We’ll win back the future of Texas.

• November 4: Constitutional/TX18/SD09 Election

• Who Will Be On The 2026 State Ballot?

• Who Will Be On The 2026 Federal Ballot?

• Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.

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