I know you're all getting tired of hearing the "bad news" out of Austin. Believe me, I am too. We know that the economy has not been good over the last couple of years, and the slow economy has been used as the scapegoat as to why Texas faces this historic budget deficit. But, I want you to know the truth behind the shortfall. The fact is that the legislature created a structural deficit when it "bought" down the property tax rate from $1.50 to $1.00 per $100 valuation and replaced that tax with a Margins Tax that was never intended to raise the same amount of revenue.
In a letter written by then State Comptroller, Carole Strayhorn, we see that warnings were issued to the governor and legislators that the choices they were making would be the cause of an historic budget shortfall in the state. Surprise! It came true. It is terrible to think that our representatives would choose to make decisions that would ultimately hurt our state, and that they would do so knowingly. But, they did.
You can see the letter here.
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