Hayley Knox
Texas’ Top 3 Leaders Asking for a 4% Budget Cut for 2018-2019.
Do you agree on blanket cuts with or without exceptions or just raising taxes to cover state government needs? The debate over whether Texas should be cutting services, raising taxes, taking a 4% blanket cut across each agency or should there be exceptions to the 4% cut is a major ongoing discussion. You can justify all sides if you look deep enough and listen to all the politicians. Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Texas House Speaker Joe
Straus, the three top Republicans in Texas, are asking for some belt tightening from their
state agencies as they prepare their request for allocations for the 2018-2019 budget.
“In a letter, …show more content…
When we look at how the state revenues have dropped from last year’s drop in world oil prices and how it has affected Texas’ incoming revenue, we have to realize that the state has less money to work with.
Less revenue coming into the state means slow economic growth for the state. Less money in the budget means less spending and fewer services provided or a raise in taxes.
In looking at a 4% cutback, which is not a major cut like 10% and should not affect major programs drastically. Taking cuts straight across the board is a good theory and a great place to start but rarely works as planned. Even as the state agencies received their letter from the Texas trio of leaders there were already exceptions to the blanket 4% cut. Also being asked to prepare a budget cut of 4% really is the first step in budget negotiations. There will be many changes as they progress to reach a final budget. There are growing needs that will require additional funding like Border patrols. Basically an across the board blanket budget could actually do more harm than good. Cuts in various sectors could bring lawsuits and delay budgets and funding.
An example is Texas’ move to cut Therapy programs last year. A law suit
Texas’ Top 3 Leaders Asking for a 4% Budget Cut for 2018-2019.
Do you agree on blanket cuts with or without exceptions or just raising taxes to cover state government needs? The debate over whether Texas should be cutting services, raising taxes, taking a 4% blanket cut across each agency or should there be exceptions to the 4% cut is a major ongoing discussion. You can justify all sides if you look deep enough and listen to all the politicians. Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Texas House Speaker Joe
Straus, the three top Republicans in Texas, are asking for some belt tightening from their
state agencies as they prepare their request for allocations for the 2018-2019 budget.
“In a letter, …show more content…
When we look at how the state revenues have dropped from last year’s drop in world oil prices and how it has affected Texas’ incoming revenue, we have to realize that the state has less money to work with.
Less revenue coming into the state means slow economic growth for the state. Less money in the budget means less spending and fewer services provided or a raise in taxes.
In looking at a 4% cutback, which is not a major cut like 10% and should not affect major programs drastically. Taking cuts straight across the board is a good theory and a great place to start but rarely works as planned. Even as the state agencies received their letter from the Texas trio of leaders there were already exceptions to the blanket 4% cut. Also being asked to prepare a budget cut of 4% really is the first step in budget negotiations. There will be many changes as they progress to reach a final budget. There are growing needs that will require additional funding like Border patrols. Basically an across the board blanket budget could actually do more harm than good. Cuts in various sectors could bring lawsuits and delay budgets and funding.
An example is Texas’ move to cut Therapy programs last year. A law suit