When state lawmakers convene this January, they are expected to see $15 billion in surplus revenues – the largest surplus in state history. That surplus represents $15 billion taken from taxpayers over and above what has been needed to operate state government.

 

That’s a big pile of money. And it’s yours. The responsible thing, of course, would be to return it to the taxpayers. But will fiscally prudent lawmakers have the strength to do it?

 

The Republican chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Waxahachie’s Jim Pitts, recently said that new spending demands could wipe out the surplus. He had previously told the Associated Press that there “could be a requirement that we leave $3 to $5 billion on the table” instead of spending it on the various programs and baubles big-government advocates prefer.

 

The “requirement” is a 1978 constitutional amendment designed to limit the growth of government. It hasn’t really been much of limit – the current budget was an 18.7 percent increase over the previous one – but it is enough of one that some folks see a big pile of cash and worry they won’t be able to spend every penny of it, and then some. (Given a quirk in the law, even tax relief must be counted as spending.)

 

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Republican Steve Ogden of Bryan, has told reporters that “it's a perfectly legitimate exercise to set a spending limit and vote to exceed it.” He later noted, as has House Speaker Tom Craddick, that tax relief is the only legitimate reason to exceed the limit and use the surplus.

 

Given that congressional Republicans were driven from power in large part due to excessive federal spending, could Texas’ Republican majority be similarly in danger if these men and their colleagues are unable to hold the line on budget increases?

 

State Representative Warren Chisum, a Republican from Pampa, thinks so. “If we're going to be conservatives we've got to... not just keep spending money. If we don't, we'll suffer the same fate they did in Washington, D.C. We'll be out on the streets.”

 

How much tax relief would the surplus provide? Let’s set aside $6 billion of it, which was spoken for in the form of education spending and property tax relief during last spring’s special session. That leaves close to $9 billion in surplus funds – a very big pile of money, indeed.

 

For the sake of argument, focus on property taxes. Each year property taxes generate just over $1 billion for every 10 cents of tax rate. Using the surplus only for property tax relief, the school M&O tax could be reduced 25 or more cents overnight, for a two-year period. That’s significant. We could also change the new, but not yet implemented, business tax; a tax which even proponents of acknowledge was enacted as only the best-worst option, designed to give lawmakers quick spending flexibility, even though such taxes hurt an economy in the long-run.

 

The retort from the no-tax-relief crowd is simple and true: using the surplus for tax relief commits lawmakers to keeping taxes low. They argue legislators should spend the money to bulk up “important services.” Of course, never noted is the fact that letting lawmakers spend the surplus on boondoggles, new and old, similarly commits taxpayers to an ongoing program of spending.

 

Economic projections suggest that revenues may not keep up with spending. This means if they spend more now, we’ll be committed to tax increases in the future. On the other hand, government austerity today will protect the economy of tomorrow.

 

Regardless of the economy, there are precious few more important services lawmakers can perform than reducing tax burdens. Letting Texans keep their money must be a moral imperative for this legislature. History, not theory, clearly demonstrates that tax cuts stimulate the economy for everyone, while government spending suppresses it.

 

The question is simple: do we want lawmakers committed to providing for tax relief or bigger government?

 

Mr. Pitts, Mr. Ogden and their colleagues in the House and Senate will hear every minute of every day from small but vocal interests who believe government programs deserve that money more than you. Lawmakers will be given countless excuses as to why the surplus should be spent rather than returned.

 

Legislators need to hear loudly and clearly from Texans who simply want their money back. The surplus should be used for tax relief; that big pile of money is ours.

Michael Quinn Sullivan is president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, a non-profit organization based in Austin.