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Why some Texans working remotely during pandemic might have to pay state income taxes

Texas famously has no state income tax. But some Texans who have traveled out of state to work remotely may be required to pay state income taxes.

DALLAS — If you’re one of many working from home, beware: it could cost you. Pew Research says 22% of Americans have relocated, had someone move into their household, or know someone who has moved because of COVID-19. If you are working remotely, but doing it in another state, you can be required to pay income tax in that state.

That might be a real shock for anyone from here who is working in another state so they can be close to family for instance, because Texas is one of just a handful of states that doesn’t have an income tax. Chances are if you go somewhere else to do your work remotely, that state will have an income tax. Read more here.

Texas sales tax collections rise, even when pandemic drop factored in

Texas does have -- and relies heavily on -- sales tax. It looked like that revenue was going off a cliff when the economy shut down, but it has rebounded…and it was strong before the pandemic. The fiscal year just wrapped up and sales tax revenue was $34.1 billion, that’s up .2% over sales tax receipts in 2019.

Oil and gas suffer, lottery soars

Oil and gas production taxes sputtered terribly down 17% and 45%, respectively. And the Texas Lottery just finished a record-breaking fiscal year--sales totaling $6,669,305,275. Their best-ever year was driven in large part by brisk scratch-off sales during the pandemic.

    

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