Texas comptroller Glen Hegar recently announced the state’s final tax revenues for fiscal year 2024. It included about $8.4 billion in production taxes from the oil and gas industry that will be used to fund major parts of the state budget. A quarter of this revenue is earmarked for public education which this year will consist of about $2.1 billion. Hegar said the revenue also will provide about $2.7 billion for the state highway fund and $2.7 billion for the economic stability fund (“rainy day fund”).
“It’s amazing to me to travel the state and see what’s happening,” Hegar said recently in Midland at a PBPA meeting. “Texas has a strong economic foundation in part because of the oil and gas industry. I don’t expect it to continue at such a rapid pace, but I also don’t expect an economic recession.” He said the industry will continue to provide significant revenue, but “at some point things will begin to decline. We’re not at that point any time soon. Research and innovation are driving industry growth, but we do need to think about that day.”
Hegar said the economic stability fund has grown to $23 billion from $6.4 billion when he took office a decade ago.