StudySpace: We the People ed. 6

Taxing and Spending in Texas

Like other states, Texas is involved in a broad range of public policy initiatives. Some of these activities, such as crime and corrections and public education, are largely state responsibilities. While the national government may contribute some funds and regulate various aspects of these public policy areas, they remain for the most part the duty and responsibility of the state of Texas.

I. Is Texas’s reputation as a low-tax state a deserved one?

• Texas is generally considered a low-tax state because it is one of four states that still does not have an income tax.
• Texas has a relatively high state sales tax, which at 6.25 percent is the third highest in the nation.
• However, per capita taxes rank Texas forty-ninth among the fifty states.
• Combining state and local taxes raises Texas to forty-sixth among the fifty states.
• Accordingly, it is hard to argue that Texas does not deserve its low-tax status.
• Texas also has consistently demonstrated a thriftiness that is demonstrated in the constitutional requirement for a balanced budget, a welfare spending limit, restrictions on growth in certain appropriations, and debt limits.

 

II. How does the Texas Constitution affect the budget process? How does this process work in practice today?

• In theory, Texas has a “dual-budget” system, which means that responsibility for writing an initial draft of the budget is shared by the governor and the legislature.
• In practice, the budget is the responsibility of the legislature.
• The Legislative Budget Board has assumed control of the budget process in Texas, subject to the comptroller’s certification of projected revenues and the governor’s use of the line-item veto.

 

III. What are the sources of funding for the state government in Texas? What other sources have been considered?

• Government and public policy in Texas are funded from a variety of sources, including sales tax, severance taxes on oil and natural gas produced in the state, licensing income, interest and dividends, and federal aid.
• Other sources of income include motor fuels tax, motor vehicle sales and rental taxes, corporate franchise tax, tobacco taxes, alcoholic beverage taxes, insurance premium taxes, utility taxes, and a hotel and motel occupancy tax.
• The reliance on these taxes has led many to criticize the Texas system as being too regressive and has led to proposals for a state personal income tax, which is generally opposed by a majority of Texans.

 

IV. What are the primary expenditures of the Texas state government?

• Texas funds a number of areas, with most of the funding going to public and higher education, health and human services, transportation, and public safety and corrections (in that order).

 

Crime and Corrections Policy

I. What is the history of the prison system in Texas?

• The first prison in Texas was built in Huntsville in 1849.
• From 1870 to 1883, the entire prison system was leased to private contractors, who used the inmates for labor.
• From 1883, inmates were leased to the railroads, planters, and others who provided food and shelter in exchange for labor.
• These leasing arrangements were abolished in 1910.
• Conditions in Texas prisons remained brutal and oppressive until reforms in the 1970s and 1980s required the state to eliminate overcrowding.

 

II. What are the important issues and trends regarding the incarceration of criminals in Texas?

• Texas has the second highest rate of incarceration in the nation..
• In addition, Texas has adopted tougher sentencing for repeat offenders.
• As Texas imprisons more persons, the cost of building and maintaining prisons has also increased.

 

Education Policy in Texas

I. What is the history of public education in Texas?

• Under the Constitution of 1876, the Permanent School Food Fund was established with guidelines on funding for public education.
• Public education remained a local matter, left to local school districts, until the 1940s, when the state legislature attempted to address some of the problems associated with funding and facilities.
• In 1949, the Gilmer-Aiken Laws created the State Board of Education to oversee education policy in the state.
• The 1950s saw the elimination of segregation pursuant to the Brown v. Board of Education decision. De facto segregation remained a problem, however, especially in urban areas with large minority populations.

 

II. What are the most important issues that have shaped education policy in Texas over the past fifty years? Have these issues been resolved?

• The inequities of funding remain a serious concern for policymakers in Texas.
• In Edgewood ISD v. Kirby, the Texas Supreme Court found that the inequities in school funding violated the equal protections clause of the Texas Constitution.
• The Robin Hood plan was initiated to reallocate funding from wealthier districts to needy districts.
• Student performance levels have also been at issue, and the state has implemented a number of mechanisms to measure student achievement and to ensure that students perform in the classroom before that participate in extracurricular activities—the “no pass, no play” rule.

 

Welfare Policy in Texas

I. What is the nature of poverty in Texas? How have welfare policies sought to remedy it?

• Texas culture tends to be very nature individualistic and traditionalistic in its approach to poverty and welfare.
• In Texas, women and minority groups are disproportionately poor.
• The American welfare state has its origin in President Roosevelt’s New Deal and the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program.
• Texas adopted a low benefit level and was one of the first states to implement workfare as a requirement for receiving benefits.
• The belief that welfare programs create a dependency on assistance is consistent with the underlying values that Texans have in regard to personal responsibility.

 

II. In the past ten years, what attempts have been made to reform the welfare system? How successful have these attempts been?

• Welfare reform attempts began in the mid-1990s.
• AFDC was abandoned in place of TANF.
• The number of poor on welfare has declined.
• The number of welfare recipients transitioning to employment has increased.

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