Texas has no state income tax...

...and is doing great, right? Right?

Well, that depends on whom you ask. According to Paul Krugman, Texas's budget deficit is

...expected to run as high as $25 billion over the next two years.

Is that considered bad?

...data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities suggest that the Texas budget gap is worse than New York’s and about as bad as California’s.

But what about Texas's low unemployment rate?

...it's about the same as the unemployment rate in New York or Massachusetts.

(I know what you're thinking: What do you expect from Paul Krugman? He's a liberal economist.)

Maybe so. But from an article in the Economist, "Lone Star Rising":

Texas has the highest proportion of people lacking health insurance of all 50 states; the third-highest poverty rate; the second-highest imprisonment rate; the highest teenage-birth rate; the lowest voter turnout; and the lowest proportion of high school graduates.

Wow!

Texas spends less on each of its citizens than does any other state. Being a low-tax, low-spend state has not made Texans rich; their median income ranks 37th among the 50 states.