Seal of Texas Texas

Texas has a constitutional appropriations limit under Article VIII Section 22 of the Texas Constitution. It was enacted in 1978 by legislative referendum and limits the growth of appropriations from “state tax revenues not dedicated by this constitution” exceed the estimated growth rate of the state economy as determined by the legislature. The legislature uses state personal income as a measure of state economic growth. This limitation does not apply to appropriations funded by motor fuel taxes, oil and natural gas production taxes, or non-tax revenues. This limit can be overridden by a majority vote in the legislature.

 
The base year represents the year the hypothetical Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) would have been enacted. Selecting a base year changes how the state’s TABOR is calculated because the annual growth rates of inflation and population change depending on when TABOR is enacted.
  • Year Inflation-adjusted Actual Spending
    1992 39,009,381,960
    1993 42,784,584,600
    1994 44,490,899,640
    1995 45,555,961,470
    1996 48,007,662,550
    1997 47,365,464,750
    1998 49,844,569,900
    1999 51,387,355,780
    2000 55,003,034,590
    2001 56,658,637,050
    2002 59,027,358,960
    2003 61,181,502,800
    2004 57,277,458,570
    2005 61,325,213,530
    2006 66,871,550,690
    2007 67,643,813,950
    2008 72,972,942,720
    2009 77,736,899,170
    2010 71,003,436,520
    2011 73,165,127,430
    2012 74,563,263,630
    2013 77,010,535,470
    2014 88,185,266,220
    2015 83,915,445,610
    2016 87,183,063,740
    2017 84,184,049,130
    2018 85,531,695,550
    2019 91,726,715,080
    2020 72,269,158,630
    2021 68,468,429,900
    2022 70,667,819,610
*All spending figures are in inflation-adjusted 2022 dollars.