As early voting approaches, you are going to be hearing a lot of numbers. One number you will hear is $20 billion. That is the projected amount of money that is going to be missing from our state revenue when lawmakers meet next year to allocate money for the 2012-2013 budget. A deficit of this magnitude means that state legislators are going to have to find alternative ways to generate state revenue.
Another number you will hear is 8.5%. That is the current unemployment rate in Texas. This means that 8 percent of our workforce wants to work but has no option available. Texas needs to create new jobs and attract new business to bolster our state economy.
There seem to be many numbers associated with a problem but not many with a solution. We think this is the perfect opportunity to introduce a few of our own numbers into this conversation, starting with $2.5 billion. That is how much money Texans spend every year on gambling in neighboring states. That is a pretty big number to be associated with a revenue stream that is leaving our state every year, especially under these economic circumstances.
Another number you should know is $8.5 billion. That is the amount of money that our state economy is projected to gain by allowing slot machines in Texas racetracks. In addition, that number translates into direct state tax revenue of $1 billion a year. That tax revenue helps to create the number 77,000. That is how many new jobs can be created by this effort.
We can bring jobs to Texas and stimulate our economy and we can do it all, right here, with Texas people and Texas money. Now, that adds up to one big solution!
Want to learn more about these numbers? Read the facts and see the numbers and find out how many jobs can be created in your area!
