Texas, meanwhile has gone almost the opposite of California. It was a donor in the 80s (oil boom, methinks?), but after that has shifted towards the receivers almost breaking even a few times.
Yep, looking at the numbers that's the biggest reason (oil boom to oil bust in the mid-80s. But there was a recovery after that.
The reason why federal receipts from Texas lowered after 2001 was because of a change in the law that allowed Texans to deduct a part of their sales taxes (which they hadn't been before).
