8 Things Texans Refuse to Pay For That the Rest of America Accepts

The corner shop that used to stencil inspection stickers on Texas windshields taped up a new sign this year: “Inspections No Longer Required.”

Texas killed that yearly bill, and it’s far from the only fee the state has stopped collecting.

These are the bills and fees Texans refuse to pay that most of the rest of the country hands over without a second thought.

Note: This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Texas laws, fees, and dollar amounts are subject to change.

1. A Cut of Their Paycheck

Every Texas paycheck arrives whole, with nothing carved out for a state income tax.

That’s not an accident.

In 2019, Texas voters amended the state constitution so lawmakers can’t create a personal income tax without asking voters again first, passing that amendment by a certified 74.35% Yes margin.

Only nine states currently skip a personal income tax entirely, and the state constitution now locks Texas into that short list for good.

A worker who moves from a state with a 5% income tax keeps thousands more a year in Texas, with no bracket, no withholding line, and no April surprise on wages.

2. A Yearly Bill for Their Truck

Texas taxes a truck exactly once, at the sales counter, the day it drives off the lot.

Nothing more after that.

About 26 states charge an annual vehicle property tax instead, billing owners a percentage of whatever the truck, car, or boat happens to be worth that year.

Virginia, Missouri, and Kansas all send that yearly bill, year after year, for as long as the vehicle stays registered.

A driver who keeps the same truck for fifteen years pays that one-time tax and nothing more toward the state for simply owning it.

3. A License to Carry a Handgun

For decades, carrying a handgun in Texas meant paying a state fee, sitting through a class, and waiting on a license in the mail.

Not anymore.

Since September 2021, most adults 21 and older can legally carry a handgun in Texas without a license, a class, or a fee at all.

The old License to Carry still exists, and many Texans keep paying for a license anyway because it unlocks reciprocity in other states.

But the state itself stopped requiring it.

A right that used to come with a fee now comes free, and dozens of other states have made the same switch.

4. A Ticket From a Camera

Ever gotten a ticket in the mail days after a light changed, with no officer anywhere in sight?

Georgia and New York drivers deal with that regularly.

Texas outlawed it in 2019.

Lawmakers banned red light cameras statewide that year, ending the automated tickets that used to show up weeks after the light turned red.

Cities with an existing camera contract could finish it out, but none could sign a new one.

These days, an actual officer has to catch a Texas driver in the act, not a lens mounted on a pole.

5. A Fee for a Grocery Bag

Austin and a handful of other Texas cities tried charging a fee for a plastic grocery bag at checkout.

The Texas Supreme Court killed it in 2018, ruling that state law blocks any city from charging, taxing, or banning single-use bags at the register.

Gone overnight.

Grab a bag in California or New York instead, and a per-bag fee often still shows up on the receipt.

Shoppers from Austin to Dallas to a small town off I-35 all pay the same amount for a bag now: Nothing.

6. A Chunk of the School Tax Bill

Homeowners in most states pay school property tax on the full value of their house.

Texas carves a slice out first.

Voters raised the homestead exemption to $100,000 in 2023, meaning school districts can't tax the first $100,000 of a primary home's value at all.

School districts tax a $300,000 home as if it's worth only $200,000, and that gap only grows for homeowners 65 and older.

That adds up fast.

Multiply that exemption across millions of homes, and the state backfills the school districts' lost revenue instead of billing homeowners for it.

7. A Lawyer to Close on a House

Title companies handle a Texas home closing from the title search to the final signature, with no attorney required anywhere in the process.

Buy a house in Georgia, Massachusetts, or New York instead, and state law puts a real estate attorney at the closing table whether the buyer wants one or not.

That fee isn't optional there.

Texas never joined the roughly dozen states that require an attorney at closing.

A buyer can still hire an attorney for a complicated deal, but nothing in Texas law forces that bill onto every closing.

8. A Yearly Safety Inspection

For decades, Texas drivers paid a mechanic every year just to get a sticker proving the car's brakes and lights worked.

That sticker is gone.

As of January 2025, Texas dropped the annual safety inspection requirement for most non-commercial vehicles.

Drivers in emissions-testing counties like Harris, Dallas, and Travis still need an emissions check, but the old bumper-to-bumper safety inspection is history statewide.