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THE MANY ROLES OF THE TEXAS COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE
While Texas retail businesses and others know the Comptroller's office well, to the average Texan the agency can be something of a mystery - right down to the pronunciation. (Note: We usually say "controller," but "comp-troller" is fine as well. We respond politely to either.)
As to what the Comptroller's office does: The next time you're multitasking at your job, consider juggling these assignments - answer nearly half a million telephone inquiries, read 2 million pieces of mail and issue more than 12 million payments each year; keep the books and create annual financial reports for a multibillion-dollar entity; educate businesses on how to pay and report taxes; and help Texans find their missing property (Exhibit 1).
That's just some of the work assigned to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. As leader of one of the largest state agencies, the comptroller serves as Texas' chief financial officer - tax collector, chief accountant, chief revenue estimator and chief treasurer for all of state government, as well as administrator for a number of other programs.
Much of our work often goes unnoticed, although the upcoming legislative session will put the agency's role in state finance into the forefront as policymakers consider budget issues. But there's plenty of work to be done in other areas. Here are some of the jobs we handle.
REVENUE ESTIMATING
By monitoring economic trends, gauging the impacts of previous legislation and weighing other pertinent factors, the Comptroller's office creates an important report for each session of the Texas Legislature - the Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE).
The BRE is a formal estimate of how much money the state will collect from taxes and other revenue sources over the next two state fiscal years. The report offered to the Legislature in January 2017 will contain revenue forecasts for the remainder of fiscal 2017 as well as fiscal 2018 and 2019.
By estimating the revenues expected to come in during the next two years, the BRE serves as the Legislature's guide to creating the state's next biennial budget. It...