Texas Proposition 5, the Sales Tax on Sporting Goods Dedicated to Parks, Wildlife, and Historical Agencies Amendment, is on the ballot in Texas as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 5, 2019.[1]
A "yes" vote supports this constitutional amendment to dedicate revenue from the sales tax on sporting goods to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Historical Commission.
A "no" vote opposes this constitutional amendment, thus allowing the legislature to decide how much of the revenue from the sales tax on sporting goods is allocated to the state Parks and Wildlife Department and the state Historical Commission.
What would Proposition 5 change?
In Texas, the state legislature is allowed to appropriate revenue from the sales tax (6.25 percent) on sporting goods to the state Parks and Wildlife Department and the state Historical Commission. The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is responsible for estimating how much revenue the sales tax on sporting goods generates using a national market data on sporting good sales.[2] According to the Texas Senate Research Center, "the actual appropriation is often much less than the [estimated revenue]."[3]
Proposition 5 would add language to the Texas Constitution dedicate revenue from the sales tax on sporting goods to the state Parks and Wildlife Department and the state Historical Commission. Whereas the current law allows the legislature to allocate the revenue for other uses, Proposition 5 would require a two-thirds vote in each legislative chamber to reduce the amount for the parks, wildlife, and historical agencies. Furthermore, the ballot measure would prohibit the legislature from decreasing the amount for the parks, wildlife, and historical agencies by more than 50 percent.[1]