Texas voters faced 10 propositions on the November ballot. Among the nine that passed was Proposition 5, which directs all taxes from the sale of sporting goods to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas Historical Commission. According to the TWPD website, the funds “will help secure the future of local parks, state parks and historic sites for generations to come.”
A previous law allowed the Texas Legislature to allocate dollars from the sporting goods sales tax however it saw fit. Less than half of the $2.4 billion in sporting goods sales taxes collected between 1993 and 2017 went to the TPWD and the Texas Historical Commission, according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
Proposition 5 passed overwhelmingly, 88 percent to 12 percent.
Here is how the new amendment reads:
The constitutional amendment dedicating the revenue received from the existing state sales and use taxes that are imposed on sporting goods to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Historical Commission to protect Texas’ natural areas, water quality, and history by acquiring, managing, and improving state and local parks and historic sites while not increasing the rate of the state sales and use taxes.
Major projects that will be funded by the sporting goods sales tax include a new visitors center at Franklin Mountains State Park; new trails for horseback riding, hiking and biking at Palo Pinto Mountains State Park; and repairs related to flood and hurricane damage at 11 parks.
Click here to see other projects that will be funded, thanks to Proposition 5.
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