James Talarico Gave Three Different Answers to One Question About His Tax Vote

James Talarico told a room of wealthy donors he wanted to tax them more and shrink their political power.

Now a CBS reporter is asking why he once voted against permanently banning that very tax.

Talarico's explanation for that old vote completely fell apart live on camera.

Talarico Claims the Income Tax Was Already Banned, Then Backtracks

CBS Texas reporter Jack Fink sat down with Talarico this week and asked a simple question.

Why did he vote against Proposition 4, the 2019 amendment that locked in the state's ban on a personal income tax?

Talarico's first answer was that an income tax was "already banned" in Texas.

That is not true, and Fink knew it.

Under the old rules, a single legislature could have passed an income tax with a simple majority and sent it to voters.

Proposition 4 raised the bar to a two-thirds supermajority in both the House and the Senate, making an income tax almost impossible to ever pass again.

Texas voters approved that lock in a landslide back in 2019, long before Talarico decided he wanted a Senate seat.

Fink pointed that out on camera.

Talarico pivoted instantly, calling the amendment "duplicative government overreach at its worst" and accusing Republicans of trying "to grandstand on an issue."

Then he circled back again, insisting he is "against an income tax in Texas, always have been."

Three different answers to one question, and not one of them matched the last.

The clip spread across conservative media within hours.

That kind of unscripted flip-flop is exactly what a statewide campaign spends millions trying to avoid.

Same Candidate Now Wants to Raise Taxes On the Wealthy

This is not some obscure state legislator with nothing on the line.

Talarico is the Democrat facing Republican Ken Paxton for that open Senate seat this fall.

Days before the Fink interview, he sat on a panel with billionaire Mark Cuban and Fox News host Jessica Tarlov to sell donors on taxing the rich.

"I've told every wealthy person I've come across in this race: If you are ok with getting taxed more, if you're ok with me limiting your influence in politics, you are welcome to join this movement that we are building," Talarico said.

Translation: he wants government's hands deeper in your pocket, as long as he gets to pick whose pocket goes first.

Cuban has become a fixture on Talarico's campaign trail this cycle, lending his name and his money to a Democrat trying to flip Texas blue for the first time in a generation.

Talarico also opposed the middle-class tax relief Republicans delivered on tips and overtime pay, the relief President Trump signed into law.

Waitresses and construction workers in Austin got real money back in their checks because of that law.

Talarico stood against it anyway.

So the billionaires on stage with Cuban get his pitch, and the waitress working a double shift gets his no vote.

Texas did not become the country's magnet for jobs and families by accident.

Companies do not relocate headquarters to Texas for the weather.

They move because Texas has no income tax, and Proposition 4 made sure no future legislature could sneak one in through the back door.

That two-thirds supermajority requirement is the whole point, and it is why Texas keeps outranking California and New York on every business tax climate index that matters.

Talarico voted against locking in the exact protection that made that ranking possible.

Now he wants a promotion to Washington, where the tax bills only get bigger.

National Democrats ran this same bait and switch for a decade, promising to only tax billionaires, then coming after everyone else once they needed the revenue.

Talarico just got caught explaining the con in real time, on camera, with nowhere left to hide.

Expect him to keep making the same pitch anyway, because the donors clapping alongside Cuban do not care how he answered one reporter's question.

Voters in Texas do care, and a Senate campaign built on higher taxes is a hard sell in a state that just spent a decade watching Californians move in to escape exactly that.

Sources:

• Jordan Conradson, "WATCH: James Talarico Called Out During Interview for Voting Against Ending State Income Taxes, Called Bill Banning Income Tax 'Government Overreach at its Worst,'" The Gateway Pundit, Sept. 6, 2026.
• Hannah Knudsen, "Texas Democrat James Talarico Campaigns on Raising Taxes," Breitbart, Aug. 31, 2026.
• Janelle Fritts, "Constitutional Amendment Proposition 4: Texas Income Tax Ban?" Tax Foundation, Oct. 21, 2019.
• Lifezette Staff, "James Talarico Crumbles When Confronted Over Vote Against Permanent Texas Income Tax Ban," Lifezette, Sept. 7, 2026.