Straus: "No New Taxes" State Budget

On May 11 at the House Appropriations committee meeting, Speaker of the House Joe Straus told committee members that they should balance the 2011-2012 biennial budget with no new taxes.

Straus argued that federal income taxes will be too high in the coming years due to declining revenue and growing population; therefore, it would be in the best interest of the people of Texas to keep state taxes low. He said that "every cost savings idea must be on the table" and said that the 5% budget cuts that Gov. Perry mandated this biennium are just the beginning.

An official from the Legislative Budget Board predicted that Texas will be short between $15 and $18 billion for the next budget cycle. This is up from an estimate earlier in the year that Texas would be short $11 billion. The Texas Constitution mandates that the state budget be balanced; therefore, the $18 billion hole must either be filled by cutting state services or increasing revenue.

During the meeting, Rep. Helen Giddings spoke about the budget cuts from 2003 that drastically cut social services, such as CHIP and Children's Mediciad. She predicted that the cuts will only be deeper this session. "If we had a cold in 2003, we're easing up on pneumonia now," she said.

Chairman Pitts told committee members that in addition to budget cuts, they will also have to find "revenue-enhancing measures" that aren't taxes. When Rep. Villarreal asked what those measures might be, the Chairman and several other committee member insinuated that the state could raise a lot of money if gambling were legalized.