The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is an executive branch position created by the Texas Constitution. The comptroller is popularly elected every four years, and is primarily tasked with collecting all state tax revenue and estimating the amount of revenue that the Texas Legislature can spend each biennium. The current comptroller is

Glenn Hegar Glenn Allen Hegar Jr. (born 25 November 1970)State Sen. Glenn H ...

, who took office on January 2, 2015.

History

The predecessor to the current comptroller's office started in 1846. The longest-serving Comptrollers in Texas history were

Robert S. Calvert Robert Seale Calvert (April 27, 1892September 1, 1981) was the longest-serving Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, serving for 26 years. From 1909 to 1910, Calvert attended Baptist-affiliated Howard Payne Junior College in Brownwood, Texas. ...

, who held the post for 26 consecutive years for an unprecedented twelve terms;

George H. Sheppard George Hartfield Sheppard (November 4, 1874 - January 18, 1949) was Texas State Comptroller from 1930 until he died in office in 1949. Early life Sheppard was born November 4, 1874, in Waco, Texas. The son of Andrew M. Sheppard and Sarah Hartfiel ...

, who served for 18 years over nine two-year terms; and Bob Bullock, who served for 16 years for four four-year terms and later was notable as one of the most powerful Lieutenant Governors in Texas history (and the namesake for the state's official history museum). Duties currently performed by the comptroller's office were previously divided between it and the office of

Texas State Treasurer Texas State Treasurer was an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the state government of Texas, responsible for overseeing the financial operations of state government. The position was established in the Constitution of ...

; however, over time the Texas Legislature transferred most of the Treasurer's functions to the comptroller's office. The last State Treasurer,

Martha Whitehead Martha Whitehead is an American politician and pastor from the U.S. state of Texas. She was the last Texas State Treasurer before the position was abolished by constitutional amendment in 1996. Career Whitehead served as the mayor of Longview, Te ...

, successfully campaigned for office in 1994 on the premise of abolishing the position and transferring its few remaining duties to the comptroller's office; upon winning she successfully campaigned the legislature for a

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

al amendment in 1995 to formally abolish the Treasurer's office which was approved by voters in November of that year. By 1996, the comptroller had taken over the Treasurer's few remaining duties.

Duties

The primary duty of the comptroller's office is to collect substantially all tax revenue owed to the State of Texas. This involves more than 60 different types of taxes from the

sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...

(the largest source of the state's tax revenue, since Texas does not have a personal

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

) to minor items such as the "battery sales fee" (a $2–$3 fee on sales of lead-acid batteries). As Texas uses a unified collection system for sales taxes assessed by both state and local governments, the comptroller's office is responsible for collecting and remitting the local portion of this tax revenue to the various cities, counties, and special districts throughout the state. The comptroller's office also operates the various prepaid college tuition funds operated by the state through its Prepaid Higher Education Tuition Board, provides reports on fiscal management and economic forecasts, and manages the

unclaimed property Lost, mislaid, and abandoned property are categories of the common law of property which deals with personal property or chattel which has left the possession of its rightful owner without having directly entered the possession of another person. ...

fund."Texas Finances and Economic Reporting", Comptroller's office
/ref> As part of its fiscal management responsibilities

of the Texas Constitution requires the comptroller to certify to the Texas Legislature the amount of available cash on hand and anticipated revenues for the next biennium (the two-year period beginning on September 1 of odd-numbered years). The Legislature is not permitted to appropriate any funds in excess of the comptroller's certified amounts (except in cases of emergency and then only with a four-fifths vote of both chambers), and absent the latter the comptroller is required to reject and return to the legislature any appropriation in violation of this requirement.

List of Texas comptrollers

*James B. Shaw (D): 1846–1857 *Clement R. Johns (D): 1859–1864 *Willis L. Robards (D): 1865 *Albert H. Latimer (R): 1866 *Morgan Hamilton (R): 1867–1869 *Albert A. Bledsoe (R): 1870–1873 *

Stephen Heard Darden Stephen Heard Darden (November 19, 1816 – May 16, 1902) was a prominent Texas politician who served in the Texas Senate and then as an officer in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Life Mr. Darden is of English-Irish desc ...

(D): 1874–1879 *William M. Brown (D): 1880–1882 *William Jesse Swain (D): 1883–1886 *John D. McCall (D): 1887–1894 *Richard W. Finley (D): 1895–1900 *Robert M. Love (D): 1901–1903 *J. W. Stephen (D): 1903–1910 *W. P. Lane (D): 1911–1914 *Henry B. Terrell (D): 1915–1919 *M. L. Wiginton (D): 1920 *Lon A. Smith (D): 1921–1924 *

Sam Houston Terrell Sam Houston Terrell (February 20, 1891 – August 17, 1967) was Texas State Comptroller from 1925 until 1930. Early life Terrell was born outside Waco, Texas on February 20, 1891. He was the son of Henry Berryman Terrell and Virginia Weaver. ...

(D): 1925–1930 *

(D): 1930–1949 *

(D): 1949–1975 * Bob Bullock (D): 1975–1991 * John Sharp (D): 1991–1999 *

Carole Keeton Strayhorn Carole Stewart Keeton (born September 13, 1939), formerly known as Carole Keeton McClellan, Carole Keeton Rylander and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, is an American politician and the former Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Elected to the comptro ...

(R): 1999–2007 *

Susan Combs Susan Combs (born February 26, 1945) is an American politician, having served elected office in Texas and served as the Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management and Budget at the U.S. Department of the Interior as an appointed official under P ...

(R): 2007–2015 *

Glenn Hegar Glenn Allen Hegar Jr. (born 25 November 1970)State Sen. Glenn H ...

(R): 2015–present

References

External links

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
{{Current Texas statewide political officials Government of Texas Comptrollers in the United States State treasurers of the United States

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...