February 23, 2015      5:23 PM
Greenfield: Money, Money, Money, it just keeps rollin in
Number cruncher extraordinaire Dr. Stuart Greenfield says Comptroller Hegar’s estimate might not be optimistic enough. Among other things, he notes oil production for the fiscal year will exceed one billion barrels. That hasn’t happened since 1978.
Newly
elected Comptroller Glenn Hegar’s Biennial
Revenue Estimate – the BRE – has been called quite
optimistic by many commentators, especially given the dramatic decline in the
price of crude oil. But the release of revenue collections for January indicates
his estimate might not be optimistic enough.
Chart
1 shows the year-to-date (YTD) growth rate in tax collections for
FY10 through FY15, and both the estimated growth rates from the Certified
Revenue Estimate (1.8 percent) released in December 2013, and the current BRE (1.6 percent). Check
out the fact that YTD growth in tax collections (6.8 percent) is 325 percent
greater than the estimated rate (1.6 percent).
The YTD growth rate in total state revenue (8.1 percent) is 80 percent
greater than the estimated growth rate (4.6 percent).
The
latest estimate of state tax collections are projected to grow by 1.6 percent
in FY15 and then increase by 2.4 percent in fiscal 2016 (FY16) and 5.6 percent in
FY17. Total net revenue is expected to increase by 4.6 percent in FY15,
increase by 1.7 percent in FY16 and then decrease by 1.9 percent in FY17.
The complete column from Dr. Stuart Greenfield, Ph.D., can be
found in the R&D Department.
By Stuart Greenfield, Ph.D.
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