After TEXAS BUDGET CAME OUT! Concerned about moving Family (West: unemployed, school districts)

[Willsson]

Also, Texas is not in the same mess as California. Our budget deficit is much lower than the true deficit that California has.

Can you please provide a reliable source for this statement?

Statistical Chicanery: Texas Budget Edition

The Paul Krugman (NYT)–led chorus trying to discredit Texas’s economic model has been claiming that Texas relied more heavily than any other state on federal stimulus money to close its budget gap. And there is an element of truth to that: Stimulus funds, they point out, covered 97 percent of Texas’s shortfall.

Texas’s was just $6.6 billion. For comparison, California’s deficit in 2009 was more than $26 billion

The fact is that Texas, at $985 per capita, received less stimulus funding than almost any other state. (Virginia and Nebraska were lower.)

[CptnRn]

Most of the schools in the central Texas area have announced huge layoffs as part of their efforts to balance budgets.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by TheEconomist

Also, Texas is not in the same mess as California. Our budget deficit is much lower than the true deficit that California has.

Originally Posted by Topaz

Can you please provide a reliable source for this statement? The Dallas Morning News and NY Times have said otherwise.

The Austin-American Statesman Politifact review judged the following statement to be mostly true.

Jan. 6, 2011, Paul Krugman says that "data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities suggest that the Texas budget gap is worse than New York’s, about as bad as California’s, but not quite up to New Jersey levels."

PolitiFact Texas | Paul Krugman compares projected shortfalls for Texas, California, New York and New Jersey

Table 3 in the report lists nearly every state confronting a projected fiscal 2012 budget shortfall and compares each shortfall to the state’s fiscal 2011 budget. The table says Texas faces a $10 billion shortfall, amounting to 22.3 percent of its 2011 budget. The New York budget gap equals $9 billion, 9 percent of its 2011 budget, while the expected gaps for California and New Jersey equal $19.2 billion (22.2 percent) and $10.5 billion (37.4 percent), respectively, of each state’s 2011 budget.

As we noted recently, the Center for Public Policy Priorities now estimates that Texas needs nearly $27 billion more than the state expects to raise from taxes and other sources to maintain current government services and programs through 2012-13. McNichol told us by e-mail that the Washington center consequently considers the updated 2012 Texas shortfall to be $13.4 billion, equal to nearly 30 percent of the 2011 budget.

[DANNYY]

Originally Posted by Bo

No state is a haven from economic trouble. Texas will have to cut things like school funding and health care to balance its budget. This would not be a good place to move for a new position in education or health care at a state-funded hospital. Some hospitals in the state are privately-funded or military facilities.

Very true.

46 out of 50 states have budget deficits. The only states that don't are Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, & Alaska.

As a state, we have one of the lowest debts per capita in the nation, because our state doesn't get bail outs or extra cash from the federal government nearly as much as other states do.

Our budget deficit looks antagonizing and horrid at first glance but we're one of the only states that record state budgets on a 2 year basis, other states like Illinois, New York, California, & New Jersey only record on an annual basis (1 year). So our budget deficit of like $25 Billion is for 2 years ($12.5 Billion per year) compared to Illinois being $14 Billion for one year, New York being $16 Billion for one year, California being $25 Billion for one year, & New Jersey being way to high for its size for one year.

It's nothing to be proud of even having a high budget deficit, but it is an accomplishment to be the 2nd largest state in the United States by both land area & population and score a lower "annual per capita budget shortfall" than states larger and smaller than Texas.

Another difference between this state and another state, we create jobs on a monthly basis. We create a good 34,000 jobs in the private sector in a month. Meaning we can accommodate for the population growth and have jobs left over to take others off unemployment. States like New Jersey and others lose jobs on a monthly basis, they cant "balance" at all and that's why they're hurting badly.

Our state debt, is far lower than nearly 35 other states.

I would say that yes, its a recession and we are definitely feeling some pain, especially in the public sector where the budget has been cut for public services like government funded hospitals, public educational institutions, & government related jobs.

But to consider that we are one of the only 20 states that give more to the federal government than we get back and are getting smaller dents than other states in the same boat, is nothing short of amazing. And for the record as a state we've always in our history have been one to give more to the federal government than we've gotten back, a lot of other states cant say that.

[goodneighbor1234]

Originally Posted by DANNYY

But to consider that we are one of the only 20 states that give more to the federal government than we get back and are getting smaller dents than other states in the same boat, is nothing short of amazing. And for the record as a state we've always in our history have been one to give more to the federal government than we've gotten back, a lot of other states cant say that.

There are States that are tax donors and there are States that are tax takers. Here's an interesting list of where each State falls in the donor/taker category. As a Californian, I would like to see more of my tax money being returned. Is there anything wrong with that?

The Tax Foundation - Federal Spending Received Per Dollar of Taxes Paid by State, 2005

Federal Spending per
State Dollar of Federal Taxes Rank
New Mexico $2.03 1
Mississippi $2.02 2
Alaska $1.84 3
Louisiana $1.78 4
West Virginia $1.76 5
North Dakota $1.68 6
Alabama $1.66 7
South Dakota $1.53 8
Kentucky $1.51 9
Virginia $1.51 10
Montana $1.47 11
Hawaii $1.44 12
Maine $1.41 13
Arkansas $1.41 14
Oklahoma $1.36 15
South Carolina $1.35 16
Missouri $1.32 17
Maryland $1.30 18
Tennessee $1.27 19
Idaho $1.21 20
Arizona $1.19 21
Kansas $1.12 22
Wyoming $1.11 23
Iowa $1.10 24
Nebraska $1.10 25
Vermont $1.08 26
North Carolina $1.08 27
Pennsylvania $1.07 28
Utah $1.07 29
Indiana $1.05 30
Ohio $1.05 31
Georgia $1.01 32
Rhode Island $1.00 33
Florida $0.97 34
Texas $0.94 35
Oregon $0.93 36
Michigan $0.92 37
Washington $0.88 38
Wisconsin $0.86 39
Massachusetts $0.82 40
Colorado $0.81 41
New York $0.79 42
California $0.78 43
Delaware $0.77 44
Illinois $0.75 45
Minnesota $0.72 46
New Hampshire $0.71 47
Connecticut $0.69 48
Nevada $0.65 49
New Jersey $0.61 50
District of Columbia $5.55 na

[DANNYY]

Yeah I was aware of our situation of giving more than getting back.

Initially I really like the situation Rhode Island is in, for every $1 they give to the federal government, they get $1 back. They don't "owe" anyone anything nor does anyone "owe" them anything.

[goodneighbor1234]

People like to make fun of New Jersey... but they get a measley $0.61 for every dollar they send to Washington. There's something wrong about that. New Mexico and Missippi are basically Federal Welfare States at over $2.00 for every $1.00 sent to the federal government.

More equity would be nice.

[buzzpost]

Originally Posted by Bo

No state is a haven from economic trouble. Texas will have to cut things like school funding and health care to balance its budget. This would not be a good place to move for a new position in education or health care at a state-funded hospital. Some hospitals in the state are privately-funded or military facilities.

^This. The whole country is going through a hard time right now.

[DANNYY]

Originally Posted by goodneighbor1234

People like to make fun of New Jersey... but they get a measley $0.61 for every dollar they send to Washington. There's something wrong about that. New Mexico and Missippi are basically Federal Welfare States at over $2.00 for every $1.00 sent to the federal government.

More equity would be nice.

I had a question. You listed "District of Columbia" as $5.55 (n/a). Does that mean that for every $1 people in the district send to the federal government that they get $5.55 back?

That is absolutely insane, Washington DC banks off other states money like no tomorrow.

[loves2read]

Texas could have gotten money from the federal govt last year and Perry and the legislature would not commit to using the money from the Dept of Education ONLY for Texas schools--
Perry wanted to put the millions into the general budget and use it to smooth out his looming deficit--which he had gotten away with once before...
now Texas schools are going to really take the hit when they could have been buffered for a year or so (and maybe we would have seen a resurgence in the tax base by then)
but Perry can live up to his dubious claim of not taking money from the FED-==