In the recent debates for the presidency, Governor Rick Perry has touted his home state of Texas as a leader when it comes to low taxes.  This is primarily based off of the fact that Texas has no income tax, which ends up favoring a lot of people highly when it comes to the tax game.  In fact, it is true that Texas is extremely favorable for those who are running a service providing business or setting up corporate headquarters.

Is the Texas model of no income taxes really the model that should be applied to the rest of America? 

Like much of what has to do with taxes, this is open to a great deal of debate.  Those who are a little bit more skeptical about Texas' reputation as one of the lowest tax states in America point to the fact that Texas actually ranks near the top of all states when it comes to taxes on property as a percentage of home value.

Another blip in the plan is the fact that the sales tax in Texas is relatively high, which is a model that seriously disadvantages those who are on the poorer scale of things.  The lack of income tax definitely favors those who have a higher salary, but for those who have low salary, trying to cope with the higher-than-average sales tax can be a challenge.

In short, no matter what the tax situation is, there's truly no such thing as a free lunch. When all of Texas' tax tenants are considered equal, it should be thought of as a medium-to-high tax state.  No matter where you decide to place your taxes, there's always the point where you have to pay the piper. 

Insofar as tax-friendly states are concerned, look to New Hampshire, which has no income tax or sales tax, or even Oregon, which does have an income tax but not a sales tax.

The real secret to figuring out a tax solution that works best depends on the individual structure of a state.  Depending on the features that a certain state has—resources, tourism, quality of workforce—there are different tax algorithms that will support the populace of that particular state best.

It simply exemplifies how difficult it is to truly come up with a national tax plan.  While individual states differ wildly from each other, figuring out the tax plan for the whole country is another ball game.  While everything might be bigger in Texas, other than the income tax, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the right plan for the entire country to follow.