The Texas oil and natural gas industry paid a record $24.7 billion in taxes and royalties last year, far exceeding the previous annual high of $16 billion set in 2019, according to the Texas Oil and Gas Association.
The unprecedented windfall helped swell government coffers in the second-largest US state as lawmakers convene in Austin for legislative action that is only scheduled for every other year.
Texas’s tax revenues from oil and gas production exceeded $10 billion for the first time ever, Texas Oil and Gas Association President Todd Staples told reporters Monday. He emphasized how the money goes toward funding a range of public interests such as education.
The state’s Permanent University Fund, which oversees millions of acres of drilling rights, received $2.1 billion in the form of taxes and royalties last year. The fund supports the University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems, and the financial groundswell could propel the University of Texas to overtake Harvard as the country’s wealthiest endowment.
Local school districts, meanwhile, received $1.65 billion in property taxes from drillers, pipeline operators and gas utilities, the trade group said.
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