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That might be part of it, but far and away the main reason for that is to offset the state’s ability to tout about having no income tax.

There’s a list floating around by some personal finance blog that ranks the states based on effective tax rate across most taxes citizens are subject to and Texas consistently ends up remarkably high on that list due to the other taxes being relatively high.

Texas is essentially the personification of a low sticker price with hidden fees (e.g., “starts at $0”).