Posted on 01/08/2013 6:57:39 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
Bloomberg reports that when the Texas Legislature begins its 2013 session it will face a problem that most states will kill for. Texas will likely have a budget surplus of around $8 billion. The question arises, how to spend it?
How Texas arrived at a surplus
In 2011, when it looked as if Texas was facing a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit, the Texas Legislature cut spending, especially funding for education, Bloomberg notes. However, partly because of the fracking boom, revenues from the sale of oil and gas soared, bringing in unexpected tax revenues. The jobless rate also declined sharply, currently down to 6.2 percent. Revenue from sales taxes has increased as well. Steve LeBlanc, co-founder of CapRidge Partners LLC in Austin, is quoted as suggesting that Texas has the financial strength of Germany and the cost competitiveness of China.
Democrats: restore education cuts
Democrats in the Texas Legislature sense an opportunity to spend the surplus. The Burnt Orange Report, for example, reflecting Democratic thinking, suggests restoring some or all of the 2011 cuts that were enacted on education funding. Health care funding is another area Democrats are keen to increase.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I pray Texas spends the surplus on reforming curriculum, educating in classical terms as well as computer applications, and then saves billions for the coming hand to hand combat in the courts and against the tyrants on the ground.
We’re going to need it, if we aren’t going to secede. The administration intends to break Texas.
Texas State Budget Surplus bump
I am also seriously considering not moving there.
1. Give it back to the folks who paid it in. Best option.
2. Dump it into interests bearing instruments and use it to generate revenue for the future.
Whatever they do, they don’t need to spend it or build stuff that will require MORE money to maintain in future.
Perhaps the bumbling fools in CA, IL, and NY could take a hint.
Maybe the Texas Legislature could divvy up the surplus, and send it back to the legal residents; same as Governor Sarah Palin did in Alaska.
The answer is easy - give it back to the taxpayers.
They could start by eliminating or lowering that stupid Franchise tax. Even if you don’t owe anything it’s still a pain to file the paperwork.
Or maybe we could start building a real fence along the border with Mexico?
I wouldn’t. I hear tell that it’s very liberal, no guns, everyone is so dependent, the chicks are ugly, and it’s always snowing.
It's really getting bad here in Irving. There are so many Lance Armstrong wannabes trying to turn the lovely Campion Trails into a velodrome.
I guarantee you, there'll be hundreds, maybe thousands, shouting "on the left!" when warmer weather arrives in the spring.
Truth be told, those are the characteristics of Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and El Paso...the big cities under Democrat control.
Suburbs are wonderful, thanks to conservative leadership.
Put it in the rainy day fund to help buy our way out of tyranny. Secession. Liberty or death.
Would that buy a pretty nice fence?
There should be no wrestling over this money. It belongs to the people who paid it. If the budget is funded-— GIVE IT BACK!!
1. Very liberal - yes, it is. I don't know how our two senators in the US senate, are Republicans - one being a Tea Party favorite. Also, I don't know how every state office holder is a Republican and both house and senate have Republican majorities.
2. No guns - that's true. I don't know how concealed carry ever happened here and how the state has more private supplied bunkers than any other state. I'm so worried about no guns being here, that I'm buying a Ruger 10/22 rifle and hollow point bullets for it and a 25 bullet magazine to add to my “arsenal” and all that takes is filling out a few forms and walking out with that rifle. I also don't know how a law was passed permitting citizens to use deadly force to protect themselves and their property.
3. Everyone so dependent - Right, we are so dependent there is no way we have a large budget surplus instead of going bankrupt. Normally, a surplus means a healthy economy with consumers able to purchase goods because they work and there are jobs to be had. We are a right to work state so unions are neutralized. It's a pity we are so dependent.
4. Chicks are ugly - ugly is in the eye of the beholder so I'll pass on this one.
5. Always snowing - true, yesterday the sun was shining and the temp. was in the 60s, a beautiful day. An ice storm and snow was sure to fall, but it didn't. I don't know why “snow birds” from the north are on our interstate highways heading south every year. They must be nuts to want our sunshine and moderate temps. in the winter.
Thanks so much for pointing out our disastrous situation in Texas. It would be much better to live in New York City or Chicago or Detroit. Those places allow a person to have as many guns as they want and they have balmy weather all year round.
It’s very important for liberals to realize that Texas, spelled backwords, is Hell.
The State of Indiana gave us the money back.
How very astute you are - I had not realized Texas backward spells Hell. If I didn't live here feeling secure in my life and possessions, I wouldn't.
Having grown up in Texas, I was used to local and state officials who were planning and thinking far into the future. The Texas Permanent School Fund was established in 1854 with $2 million. The oil boom in the 30s enhanced that fund and is currently valued at $22 billion.
We had highways built large enough to handle traffic for future needs. When lakes were expanded, they were designed to provide water for the next 100 years.
Now having lived in several other states, I can appreciate such planning in its absence. Seeing land condemned for roads and no construction for 30 years until finally inadequate roads were built at much higher cost was a discouraging example of how things were done in North Carolina. Other tax money was squandered on “feel-good” projects that were virtually worthless and graft and corruption absorbed a lot of taxpayers’ hard earned dollars.
Responsible governments may be going the way of the buggy whip, but it is good to know that it can be done.
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