Food Not Bombs, a volunteer group that feeds the homeless, was issued tickets by Houston police for distributing meals outside the Central Library in violation of a city ordinance. At the first trial for one of the volunteers, Phillip Picone, the jury found him not guilty. The city claims the ordinance is meant to connect homeless people with social services, while Food Not Bombs argues it violates their freedoms and rights. During the trial, the police officer testified that he issued the ticket but that he also likes feeding the homeless. In his closing argument, Picone’s lawyer argued there was reasonable doubt since the group had been feeding people there for years with the city’s permission. The jury unanimously found Picone not guilty, which his lawyer saw as confirmation of his faith in doing good for the poor.
I don’t think so. Maybe for very low income people.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy thinks so. They rate Texas as the second most unfair taxation policy in the country, with the lowest 20% of incomes paying 13% of their income in taxes, over two percentage points higher than in California.
In fact the only ones who do better in Texas are – to the surprise of literally no one – the top 1%.
The only source I could find that tried to argue differently was The Tax Foundation, which is primarily founded by corporate interests including the Koch Brothers and has a history of advocating for right-libertarian economic policies.