Budget Mess Grows by $4 Billion

Press Release

Comptroller comes clean on election eve

Rick Perry's $25 billion budget crisis grew tonight as the comptroller he's been trying to muzzle revealed a $4 billion deficit for the previous fiscal year.

"On Friday, Perry said he'd launch a national book tour after the election while taking a full state salary, rather than working on the state's budget crisis. The state comptroller today admitted that her forecast of tax collections last year was billions off. Today Perry had the book publisher withdraw quotes from public circulation attacking the social security system. Don't we need a governor who puts Texas first?" said Bill White.

"Rick Perry's been trying to hide his record of spending and debt until after the election. Not only are we staring down a $25 billion budget hole, we have a $4 billion deficit from last year on top of that. Can Rick Perry explain to Texans how going on a self-promoting national book tour is going to help clean up his mess?" said Katy Bacon, campaign spokesperson.

Revenues for last year were $1.9 billion less than expected and spending was $1.9 billion higher than expected.

Throughout the campaign, Rick Perry has tried to hide fiscal facts from Texans about the biggest budget crisis in state history.

Quorum Report first reported the news. The cash report is available here. The revenue estimate is available here.

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