Neubarth
At the Ballpark July 30th
Texas On The Verge Of Collapse: Budget Gap 18 Billion
The state of Texas was already facing a grim financial situation for the next legislative session: A budget gap that could reach $18-billion. If you were looking for a silver lining, youll want to ignore latest business tax numbers.
RJ DeSilva with the State Comptrollers Office says new figures show a ten percent decline from last year.
September through May for fiscal 2009, wed collected about $4-billion, DeSilva said. And for the same time for this fiscal year, its been about $3.6-billion.
There are a lot of people who could say I told you so about this. One of them is Dick Lavine. Hes at a progressive think tank called the Center for Public Policy Priorities. Lavine has been harping for years about how the taxes created in 2006 to fund a property tax cut werent big enough to cover the difference.
The problem was, even at the time, they knew that the change in the franchise tax plus the increase in the cigarette tax wasnt going to cover the revenue lost by school districts, Lavine said. They had cash on hand at the time and theyve been trying to plug the hole ever since.
The comptrollers office is trying to make up the shortfall in part by paying more visits to businesses. The associate deputy comptroller told the House Ways and Means Committee last week that all of the largest taxpayers will be subject to audits.
kut : Item | State Business Tax Receipts Down
The state of Texas was already facing a grim financial situation for the next legislative session: A budget gap that could reach $18-billion. If you were looking for a silver lining, youll want to ignore latest business tax numbers.
RJ DeSilva with the State Comptrollers Office says new figures show a ten percent decline from last year.
September through May for fiscal 2009, wed collected about $4-billion, DeSilva said. And for the same time for this fiscal year, its been about $3.6-billion.
There are a lot of people who could say I told you so about this. One of them is Dick Lavine. Hes at a progressive think tank called the Center for Public Policy Priorities. Lavine has been harping for years about how the taxes created in 2006 to fund a property tax cut werent big enough to cover the difference.
The problem was, even at the time, they knew that the change in the franchise tax plus the increase in the cigarette tax wasnt going to cover the revenue lost by school districts, Lavine said. They had cash on hand at the time and theyve been trying to plug the hole ever since.
The comptrollers office is trying to make up the shortfall in part by paying more visits to businesses. The associate deputy comptroller told the House Ways and Means Committee last week that all of the largest taxpayers will be subject to audits.
kut : Item | State Business Tax Receipts Down
