State revenues take $1 billion hit due to oil and gas industry
AUSTIN — Texas’ fiscal picture is nearly $1 billion worse than State Comptroller Glenn Hegar predicted when he lowered his revenue projection last year, thanks largely to the faltering oil and gas industry.
“Overall, it continues to be a drag on the overall state economy and the overall receipts into the state treasury,” Hegar said in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News, noting that effects of the oil-and-gas industry’s struggles ripple beyond areas where the energy business is concentrated.
The state still has enough money to support the current two-year state budget, which passed its halfway point when the state closed the books on the 2016 fiscal year on Aug. 31, Hegar said. That’s because lawmakers left several billion dollars unspent when they crafted the spending plan last year.
The savings proved fortuitous when Hegar revised his revenue estimate last October, predicting that tax collections over the two-year budget period would be $4.6 billion less than his original forecast at the start of 2015.
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