Parks around the State of Texas could start receiving some extra money in the fall.
In 1993, legislation was passed in order to more adequately fund the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Up to 94 percent of all of the taxes collected from the purchase of sporting goods were to be used to fund local, regional and state parks, with the other six percent of the taxes collected heading to the Texas Historical Commission in order to maintain the State of Texas’ 22 historic sites.
However, only around 40 percent of the money collected through the sporting goods taxes actually went to the parks.
Out of around $2.5 billion in taxes, around $1 billion went to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
However, after Governor of Texas Greg Abbott signed legislation on June 7, voters will get to decide in November if the money being collected from the taxes should go exclusively to what they were intended to fund in the first place, with 94 percent of the taxes collected to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the other six percent going to the Texas Historical Commission.
Read more by AJ Gersh from KTXS12 here.
Sporting goods tax could exclusively go to funding Texas parks and historical sites
