AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation today released “TEL It Like It Is: Why Texas Needs Spending Limit Reform” by the Honorable Talmadge Heflin, director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s (TPPF) Center for Fiscal Policy and former chairman of the Texas House Committee on Appropriations, and TPPF Economist Dr. Vance Ginn.
“Though Texas legislators did an excellent job by holding the total budget below population growth plus inflation during the last session, the state’s weak spending limit remains a primary cause of excessive budget growth during the last decade,” said Heflin. “Legislators can strengthen the limit by capping the total budget, basing the growth on the lowest of three metrics, and requiring a supermajority vote to exceed it. These reforms would have helped keep more money in Texans pockets where it belongs.”
“Texas has done better economically and in many ways fiscally than most states during much of the past two decades. Nevertheless, a consistent and effective limitation on the state’s budget growth is needed,” said Ginn. “The 2016-17 budget is up 8.8 percent above population growth plus inflation since 2004. If legislators had implemented our reforms during that period, Texas families of four could have $1,261 more in their pockets to put food on their table, save for a rainy day, or choose other options that best meets their needs.”
To read the full publication, please visit: http://txpo.li/TEL-it-like-it-is
The Honorable Talmadge Heflin is the Director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.In the 78th Session, Heflin served as chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations.
Vance Ginn, Ph.D. is an Economist in the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.