One huge advantage Texas has over one-party Democrat-rule states is the salutary habit of running budget surpluses year after year after year. (Or, to be technically correct (“the best kind of correct!”), biennium after biennium after biennium.)
Now Comptroller Glenn Hegar has officially forecast that the Texas budget for 2024-2025 (the one the legislature will pass in the just-started legislative session) will be a $32.7 Billion surplus.
The historic Texas budget surplus estimate has grown even larger as Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced a $5 billion increase in an updated Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE) on Monday.
The Texas Legislature convenes for the first day of its 88th Regular Session on Tuesday and now appears to have at its disposal $32.7 billion — a sum that has more than its fair share of stipulations and restrictions. Hegar’s July 2021 projection pegged the number at $27 billion.
“Even with constitutional spending limits and an inflation-influenced new normal, the enormous amount of projected revenue gives the state a remarkable, or a truly ‘once-in-a-lifetime,’ opportunity for historical actions this legislative session,” Hegar said, presenting the BRE Monday.
Tempering reactions, he added, “Don’t count on me announcing another big revenue jump two years from now.”
“The revenue increases that we’ve seen have been in many ways unprecedented and we cannot reasonably expect a repeat. We are unlikely to have an opportunity like this again.”
Overall, the comptroller estimates $188 billion available in general-purpose spending for the 2024-2025 budget, a 26 percent increase from the current biennium. The state will also receive an estimated $176 billion in federal dollars and other revenues that are non-discretionary, earmarked already with specific purposes.
Over half of the general revenue-related funds come from sales taxes and 13.2 percent from oil and gas severance taxes. Due to the high oil and gas prices over the last year, severance tax collections rose 116 percent in 2022; the average annual increase from 1996 to 2021 was just 7.5 percent.
Without new appropriations, Hegar estimates the Economic Stabilization Fund to reach a balance of $27.1 billion, slightly constrained by a constitutional limit.
Texas has had a Republican trifecta (House, Senate and Governor’s mansion) for two decades, and in that time it has followed the budget maxim of former governor Rick Perry: “Don’t spend all the money!” Conservative governance, free market policies, low taxes and fiscal prudence have all combined to keep the economy growing even in difficult times, a record few Democratic-dominated states even remotely approach.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation has more thoughts on how Texas government can reduce the Texas tax burden even further.
Tags: 88th Texas Legislative Session, Budget, Glenn Hegar, Republicans, Texas, Texas Public Policy Foundation
They should really put some resources into their Department of Motor Vehicles. It’s a shame and a sin.
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Surplus? Rx – Razor wire, signs, and mines. They work. We know that. We’re selling them to Ukraine to protect their border.
https://nexttobagend.blogspot.com/2022/12/how-to-secure-border.html
Here’s a crazy idea: How about they lower the taxes? Clearly, they are collecting more than they need. Plus, sooner or later there may be Democrat control, so that extra money will be used for destructive purposes. Better if it’s not laying around. It’s like leaving a loaded firearm where a four-year-old can get to it.
God bless Texas. I don’t want to live anywhere else in the winter. In the summer . . .
I’m with Gaffer: secure the border. And I’m leaning towards adding “all the way around” to that sentiment.
Texas doesn’t collect state taxes.
You mean Texas doesn’t collect state income taxes. There are numerous other state taxes Texas collects.
15 million bus tickets to Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary….?
@Lawrence Person is correct. Including cities and counties, Texas is about in the middle of states in terms of business taxation. Of course, other costs are low, the regulatory environment is favorable, and there’s no personal income tax, so all things considered Texas is still one of the best places to operate a business. But I’d say Texas is about average among the states for taxing businesses. The revenue has to come from somewhere, after all.
I think this would be an ideal time to fully fund state pension obligations. It would be a way of preventing future liabilities without creating new spending.
I strongly suggest returning money to TAXPAYERS, which kinda means property owners to be focused correctly. Letting a large pile of funds build up attracts DEMOrats willing to spend it on their “Issues.”
Every foundation with funds gets taken over by do-gooders [aka grifters].
Our property taxes are ruinous. Housing values have doubled, and half the state is being crushed by property taxes. You don’t own your house the state does. Mine are over $21,000 a year. It’s like rent.
[…] DISPATCHES FROM THE RED ZONES: Texas To Run Another Big-Ass Budget Surplus. […]
[…] DISPATCHES FROM THE RED ZONES: Texas To Run Another Big-Ass Budget Surplus. […]