Today, the Conservative Texas Budget Coalition announces a recap of how the Texas Legislature did in achieving their key fiscally conservative priorities this session.

The 2020-21 Texas budget of $243.7 billion, which excludes funds to Harvey recovery and property tax relief, increases by 12.5 percent above the 2018-19 appropriations. This amount means this budget is not a responsible Conservative Texas Budget as it exceeds the CTB limit of $234.1 billion based on an 8 percent increase in population growth plus inflation.

Fortunately, there was passage of property tax relief that cuts school districts’ maintenance and operations property taxes by $5 billion and caps their growth at 2.5 percent per year. And most of the other local tax jurisdictions will now be under an automatic election for property tax revenue increases above 3.5 percent. While there were steps in the right direction on strengthening the state’s spending limit, abolishing the margins tax, and adopting a tax relief fund, these measures ultimately did not pass. There was a major improvement in budget transparency and accountability with the addition in statute of strategic fiscal reviews.

Given the Coalition’s legislative priorities this session, we appreciate the achievements made but there is much to be desired as we push forward for more fiscal conservativism to make Texas the best place for economic prosperity. The only way to do that is to practice fiscal restraint and reduce tax burdens so that government has less influence on our lives.

We look forward to working with legislators during the interim to build on some of the momentum this session so that the 2021 session can achieve these key fiscally conservative priorities.

The Conservative Texas Budget Coalition

  • Americans for Prosperity–Texas
  • Americans for Tax Reform
  • Citizens Against Government Waste
  • Grassroots America—We the People
  • Heartland Institute
  • Heritage Alliance
  • Institute for Policy Innovation
  • Lone Star Policy Institute
  • National Taxpayers Union
  • Our America Initiative
  • R Street Institute
  • Reason Foundation
  • State Budget Solutions
  • Texans for Fiscal Responsibility
  • Texans 4 Truth
  • Texas Eagle Forum
  • Texas Public Policy Foundation
  • Young Conservatives of Texas