Austin legislative hearing on Texas budget woes

May 11, 2010

Associated Press Tue May 11, 2010, 07:40 AM CDT

Austin — A budget writer says Texas sales tax receipts in April rose by 1.4 percent over the same month last year.

But State Rep. Jim Pitts of Waxahachie says state revenues remain "well short" of predictions.

An update was expected Tuesday at an Appropriations Committee hearing in Austin.

The state comptroller's office says collections in the first eight months of the current fiscal year are nearly $1.5 billion, or almost 12 percent, behind fiscal 2009.

Pitts said the hole is too deep to meet targets for the budget year that ends Aug. 31.

Members of the House Ways and Means committee in April reviewed tax exemptions as legislators who will convene in 2011 prepare for an estimated budget shortfall of at least $11 billion.

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