BUDGET

This short annual report lists some of our accomplishments for the year, for example, increasing access to the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and increasing caseworkers for child protection.

"While the budget will spend almost 95% of General Revenue on education, health care, and corrections, too much has been set aside for tax cuts that mostly benefit upper-income families. As a result, many important needs will go unmet, while our tax system grows more unfair. The budget will keep Texas at the bottom in what we invest in our children and how we care for our most vulnerable." Here CPPP has prepared county-level information to illustrate the current and potential impact of state government spending in local communities. More detailed analyses of program-level impacts will be made available as soon as possible.

On Friday, the House may vote on taking another $2.5 billion from our already inadequate general revenue stream to lower school property tax rates by another 9 cents, down to $0.91 per $100 of value. This would be a straight tax swapâ€"replacing property taxes with state general revenue. Actual spending on education would not increase one cent. You must act now to prevent this diversion of general revenue. Tell your state representative to VOTE NO on HB 2785 by Rep. Paxton, which is on Friday’s calendar. Also tell them to VOTE NO on HJR 44, a proposed constitutional amendment to require a three-fourths vote of the Legislature to raise the rate on the new margins tax, which is also on Friday’s calendar.

Today, Governor Perry proposed crippling our state’s ability to build the infrastructure we need by taking another $2.5 billion to pay for an additional school property tax cut. This tax cut would be on top of the tax cut provided in last year’s special session.

CPPP has revised its overview of the differences between House and Senate state budget proposals for 2008 and 2009. More detailed side-by-side comparisons for Education, Protective Services, Medicaid/CHIP, Public Health, Assistive & Rehabilitative Services, and Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) are also available. Texas can afford to meet all its needs. Texas has at least $3 billion more in General Revenue that the legislature could appropriate. In addition, the legislature could redirect $1.4 billion in the House and Senate proposals that would only undo past payment deferrals. Undoing these payment deferrals has no purpose except to shelter money to pay for tax cuts after 2009. If the legislature appropriated this entire $4.4 billion to meet today's needs, Texas would still have another $4.3 billion in its Rainy Day Fund to meet an emergency of any sort.

As the House and Senate finish their “mark up” of the proposed state budget for 2008-2009, the fight continues between those wanting to use dedicated funds to balance the General Revenue budget, and those wanting to see dedicated funds spent for their intended purpose. This Policy Page explains this arcane but important budget issue, using the System Benefit Fund as an example. Of course, this issue is yet one more illustration of the true problem facing Texas: a regressive state/local tax system that does not generate enough money to meet our communities’ growing needs for education, health care, and other basic services.

Presentation by Eva DeLuna to foundation officials on what Texas spends on its youngest residents and the prospects for future improvements in Zero to Three programs.

This two-page handout explains how $14.3 billion in additional state general revenue could have been allocated to fund current services in key areas of the 2008-2009 state budget. In contrast, the budget being considered by legislators uses a significant amount of "new" revenue to fund local tax cuts and to undo payment deferrals .

Presentation on state budget and tax issues to the 21st Annual Gathering of the Texas Catholic Conference in San Antonio.

Although the comptroller has certified $14.3 billion in “new money” available for appropriation, the budget proposed by the Legislative Budget Board leaves only $2.5 billion in uncommitted revenue â€" not enough to meet our state’s needs. Half of the new money, $6.9 billion, would be locked up for property tax cuts â€" $3.9 billion to fund property tax cuts in the 2008-09 budget, plus another $3.0 billion to continue the tax cuts in 2010-11. The proposed budget could be changed in two ways to increase the amount available for other priorities. First, property tax cuts could be limited to only the amount that could be funded with the revenue raised by the 2006 special session. Second, another $1.4 billion could be freed up for appropriation by continuing deferrals of certain payments to schools and social-service providers.

Presentation by Eva DeLuna to the Dallas Rotary Club, explaining why the state does not have a multibillion-dollar budget "surplus" for 2008-09 or in the long term.

The Comptroller has announced that the Legislature will have "$14.3 billion in new money to spend in the 2008-09 state budget." This figure is a comparison between the amount of general revenue expected to be available for the coming biennium and the amount being spent in the current biennium. This is not the same as estimating that the state will take in $14.3 billion more in 2008-09 than in 2006-07. In fact, total net revenue to general-revenue-related funds in the next biennium is projected to increase by only $3.2 billion over the current level.