ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how budgets are drafted in Texas, how revenues are raised, and how the money is spent. In general, the legislature dominates the budgetary process, taxes are kept low, and revenues are directed to basic, no-frills programs in education, health and human services, and transportation. The Texas revolution was sparked by the Mexican authority’s attempts to tax imports into Texas. Officials in Texas state government make critical decisions about how much revenue to rise, through what kinds of taxes and fees, levied against whom. The Texas Constitution and laws establish what taxes can be levied, what services can be delivered, and who has the power and responsibility to create the budget. The responsibility for navigating the budgetary process is distributed across the legislative and executive branches of Texas state government. Texas has long derived the bulk of its tax revenues from a general sales tax and several specialized sales taxes.
