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Texas Comptroller's Office, Economic Analysis Center:An Inventory of Comptroller's Office Economic Analysis Center Records at the Texas State Archives, 1964-1985, 1987, 1989
Agency HistorySince its creation in 1835, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has always been the central accounting officer or chief fiscal officer of the state, and as such is responsible for maintaining effective methods for accounting for the state's funds. He or she is the state's principal tax administrator and collector of tax revenue. The Comptroller must also provide the research and statistics necessary for revenue estimating and certification. The Comptroller's Office, like many complex state agencies, is continually in flux as to internal organization, making the following divisional history very tentative. Sometime between 1978 and December of 1983, the Planning and Research Division of the office of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts was renamed the Budget and Research Division. In the fall of 1986, it was reorganized as the Economic Analysis Center, also called the Economic Analysis Library. The Economic Analysis Center was responsible for preparing revenue estimates and economic forecasts. It also conducted research on the state's economy and finances, public debt, the economic impact of proposed legislation, and other governmental financial matters. The Economic Analysis Library staff estimated the probable effect on revenue of all proposed revenue bills; performed economic research, analyzing changes which had occurred and relating their effect on probable revenue sources; determined which phases of business activity must be measured; and compiled data to be used as a measuring device. The Comptroller's Office implemented a revenue forecasting system which provided the Economic Analysis Library access, through a communications terminal, to computer files and statistical programs designed to analyze and project state revenues. The system provided projections of state expenditures and produced the comptroller's biennial revenue estimate. In November 1989, the Economic Analysis Center was divided into three divisions: Research, Revenue Estimating, and Intergovernmental Affairs. In September 1989, the divisions had been designated: Revenue, Spending, and Economic Forecasting; Administration and Information Support; and Economic and Financial Research (with Intergovernmental Issues a subunit of the last). The Economic Analysis Center is listed in the Guide to Texas State Agencies, 6th edition (1990) as being in the Fiscal Management Area of the Comptroller's Office. But in consulting the Guide to Texas State Agencies, 7th edition (1992), it appears that the functions of the Economic Analysis Center were taken over by the Revenue Estimating Division of the Fiscal Management Area. (Sources include the Guide to Texas State Agencies, 6th edition (1990); the Guide to Texas State Agencies, 7th edition (1992); and Texas Comptroller's Office organization charts, 1978-2001.) Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Contents of the RecordsThe Economic Analysis Center of the Texas Comptroller's Office was responsible for preparing revenue estimates and economic forecasts, and also conducted research on the state's economy and finances, public debt, the economic impact of proposed legislation, and other governmental financial matters. These records document those functions. They include correspondence and interoffice memoranda (mostly cover letters), reports (mostly statistical), press releases, worksheets, notes, printouts, brochures, legislation, litigation briefs, and news clippings, dating 1964-1985, 1987, and 1989. The earliest records (dating 1964-1985) were presumably created by the Planning and Research Division/Budget and Research Division of the Comptroller's Office, and maintained in the Economic Analysis Library. Of particular interest is a complete run of monthly reports entitled Selected Revenue Estimates Compared to Actual Collections (General Revenue Fund, Available School Fund, and Tax Clearance Fund), 1965-1983 (renamed Revenue Summary, Selected Revenues in fiscal year 1977). Although correspondence and memoranda were a component of the earlier records dating 1964-1985, they became the primary form of record in 1987 and 1989. Thus, records dating 1987 include copies of correspondence and memos of the staff of the Economic Analysis Center. Subjects include new legislation affecting taxes, proposed rules on sales tax on services, tax code questions, the state's revenue from oil and gas, taxes on illegal drugs, the equitable expenditure of highway funds, the Texas economy, the October 1987 stock market collapse, and internal operations of the Economic Analysis Center. Correspondents include Comptroller Bob Bullock, Texas state senators and representatives, county and local officials, business and trade associations, private citizens, and other states' financial officers. Records dated 1989, by then referred to as "administrative correspondence," include correspondence, memoranda, news releases, and news articles. Subjects of this correspondence of the Economic Analysis Center generally cover the state's economy and new legislation affecting taxes, including proposed legislation affecting sales tax on mail order sales, the Texas Index of leading economic indicators, the state's revenue from oil and gas, an increase in state cigarette taxes, licensing and regulation of accounting practitioners, state inheritance tax, and school financing. Correspondents include the comptroller, the deputy comptroller, members of the United States Congress, Texas state senators and representatives, private citizens, and other states' financial officers. To prepare this inventory, the described materials were cursorily reviewed to delineate series, to confirm the accuracy of contents lists, to provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types. This finding aid describes the records of only one unit of the Texas Comptroller's Office. If you are reading this electronically, click here for an introduction to the Texas Comptroller's Office records. If you are reading this in paper, the introduction is at the beginning of the first binder labeled Comptroller. Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents RestrictionsRestrictions on AccessNone. Restrictions on UseMost records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted and may be freely used in any way. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.). Technical RequirementsNone. Return to the Table of Contents
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Return to the Table of Contents Administrative InformationPreferred Citation(Identify the item), Texas Comptroller's Office Economic Analysis Center records. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Accession InformationAccession numbers: 1990/148, 1994/058, 1996/129 These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by the Economic Analysis Library of the Texas Comptroller's Office on June 7, 1990; by the Economic Analysis Center of the Texas Comptroller's Office (via the Records Management Division of the Texas State Library) on January 11, 1994; and by the Texas Comptroller's Office on July 29, 1996. Processing InformationTony Black, November 1990 Paul Beck, January 1994 Lisa M. Hendricks, July 1996 Return to the Table of Contents Detailed Description of the Records
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