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 ...
Umm... Don’t you send the surplus back to the taxpaying people who overpaid and then cut taxes?
Friggin’ duh.
LOL. I was sure there was a "hell, texas", but Googlemaps didn't find one.
Damn yankees can stay where they are, unless they want to go to Austin and pick up a few to take back home with them.
Conservative yankees have a provisional pass until they can say "y'all" more than once in a sentence.
Buy a dozen fire fighting planes and lease them out when other states need them.
Put the rest away for a rainy day. And audit the fund every year to make sure the money wasn’t lent out or taken for projects.
Now if only Gov. Cuomo of New York would learn something from that paragraph - as well as any Governor holding up fracking because of the enviro-wackos.
You'd think it would be SO painfully obvious that even those politicians could see the benefits. Ah, perchance to dream.
Yeah, Strauss has got to go.
Well for damn sure don’t waste it on education. They absolutely raised hell over the coming disaster when funding was reduced predicting all kinds of disaster.... nothing bad happened.
Education seems to be a waste of money in this country anyway.
You can bet every special interest hog will have their face in the trough though complete with all manner of scum sucking lawyers and lobbyists.
IT WILL BE WASTED no matter what.
Oh, and never mind that every new road in the state is a toll road and gee whiz, guess what? They are all built in record time. The new 13 miles of 99 is going like wildfire. It’ll be built in less time than it takes to fix a water leak on Memorial.
Here’s a question: Can anyone point to a single child who has suffered a loss as a result of the education cuts.
Actually, I’ve lived in Texas since ‘73 and can’t wait to get out. Whatever you do don’t move to Texas, you’ll regret it. Just stay away, you’ll thank me later.
Actually, I’ve lived in Texas since ‘73 and can’t wait to get out. Whatever you do don’t move to Texas, you’ll regret it. Just stay away, you’ll thank me later.
oops, sorry, double post.
He was reelected today.
Sounds good, as long as they wouldn't be competing with private firms doing the same thing.
You can use my share to draw up secession papers and start building a wall on our northern border......
Great....looks like the Perry/Dewhurst/Strauss cabal did what it took to ensure old Joe’s place as the Boss Tweed of Texas.
Crap. I just heard that on the news.
Easy answer. Give it back to the tax payers from whence it came!! It’s not the pols money.
Iowa also has a surplus with an unemployment rate of less than 5 percent.
50 0/0 refund to taxpayers
I think I see what you did there, good move.
I recommend that people not move here, I do encourage liberals and RINO’s to leave though
My family moved to Texas in December ‘73, from overseas, and my parents were both from said state, I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, and I’ve been everywhere. If you don’t like it then you know where the door is.
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