The 84th Regular Legislative Session passed numerous bills which will have “significant impact” on Texas’ state finances and some of those key bills were highlighted in a recent publication of the Comptroller’s September 2015 Fiscal Notes (click on hyperlink for complete details). A spotlight on some of those bills and the impacts:
SB 1: Property Tax Relief – assuming the proposed amendment to increase the residence homestead exemption to $25k is passed by the voters, the impact to the school fund is approximately $1.2 billion in the next two years.
HB 32: Franchise Tax Rate Reduction – the estimated loss from Property Tax Relief Fund will be $1.27 billion.
SJR 5: Transportation – assuming voters pass the proposed amendment to dedicate certain tax revenue to the state highway fund, the estimated loss from General Revenue Fund will be $2.5 billion but would be offset in some way with a $2.5 billion gain to State Highway Fund.
In addition to those bills highlighted in the recent Fiscal Notes publication, there are several other bills such as HB 7 that will impact the state's finances. The repeal of the professional’s tax in HB 7 means more than 600,000 professionals will no longer have to pay a $200 annual license fee, which impacts both the Foundation School Fund and General Revenue Fund.