How to Balance a State Budget
Mar. 9th, 2011 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebLike most states, our state is finding that it's bringing in a lot less money that it is accustomed to spending. Guess which of the following plans is looking good to my state's current batch of legislators:
a) raise taxes
b) cut spending
c) use the rainy day fund
d) raise fees
e) legalize some crimes
f) rescind the balanced-budget law
From what I can tell, the answer is b) and e) with a little bit of d) thrown in.
a) Raising taxes - A couple of years ago, some kind of business tax was raised so that property taxes could be cut. But the math didn't work out right and the business tax is nowhere near making up for the cuts in real estate taxes. You'd think it might not be that hard to raise property taxes back to the old levels, but with campaign promises not to raise taxes no matter what, option a) is out.
b) Cutting spending - this is the darling of this session, but it turns out that if you cut spending enough to balance the budget, you are going to have to cut a lot of services. Enough so that even Republicans are a little sick. Maybe not Libertarians or Anarchists, though. Not sure.
It seems like we are mostly talking about cutting things that aren't (yet) urgent, but that are a lot cheaper to deal with now than to ignore and then deal with later, like mental health care (the patients turned out tend to end up in hospitals or prisons, which cost more). One exception might be cutting prison spending. If the result is letting more people out on parole, that's good--my state has an unbelievably large percentage of it's citizens in prison, and I still like to think that even though my state is full of, well, people from my state, we've still gone a bit overboard. If the result is just going to lead to overcrowding, feeding them even worse, giving them even worse health care, accidentally letting more weapons get into prison, paying the guards even less, etc., then I'd say it's not an exception after all.
c) Using the rainy day fund - I know, my state was smart enough to build one of these? Unbelievable. However, our governor is trying to talk everyone into not using it, not any of it. The only reason we still have a rainy day fund is that the (same) governor talked everyone into not using it last session like they wanted to. Even if we used the whole thing this session, it would cover less than half of the deficit.
d) Raise fees - Technically, fees aren't taxes. So ha! (Party time!)
e) Legalize some crimes - This is the one that really hit me today and is the reason I'm writing this entry. Here are some of the crimes it is proposed to legalize:
* Buying alcohol from liquor stores on Sundays - This is expected to lead to an increase in taxes collected. Interestingly, liquor store owners are opposing this; they think they'll just get the same amount of business, but they'll have to be open an extra day to get it all, raising their costs and reducing staff morale.
* Allow more gambling - Again, this is expected to lead to more tax revenues.
* Rescind various laws related to public schools such as for maximum classes sizes and against teacher pay cuts. This will give the schools more flexibility in dealing with the fact that they will not have enough money.
I'd rather legalize marijuana and prostitution (if we did the latter wisely like The Netherlands does). Oh, and more kinds of immigration!
f) Rescind the balanced budget law - The law that the state budget must be balanced is actually not under discussion, as far as know. Especially since we're smart enough to have a rainy day fund, I think that's awesome.
In related news, there are plans to cut funding to universities and also to freeze tuition. Apparently we're to start selling cupcakes. UT is already selling bottled water.
Quote of the Day - "The locusts aren't going to go away; they're going to drown in the blood plague."
Other Quote of the Day - "HB 1460 will raise your blood pressure by 15 millimeters systolic and diastolic." (It says, for example, that students must take at least 10% of their courses in non-traditional ways such as in summer school or online, which will magically be cheaper than the usual ways. It also says students must have an approved degree plan during the first semester after they earn 30 hours or else they won't be allowed to register for the next semester. And once they do register, they will not be allowed to register for anything that is not on their degree plan.)
Blog Entry of the Day - Wise Bread's "Disguise Your Stuff to Prevent Car Break-ins" - "... pickups and hatchbacks are unique because without a trunk, nearly all the contents are visible from the outside, and this creates a veritable display case for would-be thieves." At least go there and scroll down and look at the picture that's worth a thousand words.
I have a trunk now (for the first time ever), but if I didn't, I would be trying something like this. There's still the problem that most (all?) materials break down in the extreme heat cars around here build up inside. Plastic gets brittle and breaks. Cardboard is okay, but the glue holding boxes together disintegrates.
a) raise taxes
b) cut spending
c) use the rainy day fund
d) raise fees
e) legalize some crimes
f) rescind the balanced-budget law
From what I can tell, the answer is b) and e) with a little bit of d) thrown in.
a) Raising taxes - A couple of years ago, some kind of business tax was raised so that property taxes could be cut. But the math didn't work out right and the business tax is nowhere near making up for the cuts in real estate taxes. You'd think it might not be that hard to raise property taxes back to the old levels, but with campaign promises not to raise taxes no matter what, option a) is out.
b) Cutting spending - this is the darling of this session, but it turns out that if you cut spending enough to balance the budget, you are going to have to cut a lot of services. Enough so that even Republicans are a little sick. Maybe not Libertarians or Anarchists, though. Not sure.
It seems like we are mostly talking about cutting things that aren't (yet) urgent, but that are a lot cheaper to deal with now than to ignore and then deal with later, like mental health care (the patients turned out tend to end up in hospitals or prisons, which cost more). One exception might be cutting prison spending. If the result is letting more people out on parole, that's good--my state has an unbelievably large percentage of it's citizens in prison, and I still like to think that even though my state is full of, well, people from my state, we've still gone a bit overboard. If the result is just going to lead to overcrowding, feeding them even worse, giving them even worse health care, accidentally letting more weapons get into prison, paying the guards even less, etc., then I'd say it's not an exception after all.
c) Using the rainy day fund - I know, my state was smart enough to build one of these? Unbelievable. However, our governor is trying to talk everyone into not using it, not any of it. The only reason we still have a rainy day fund is that the (same) governor talked everyone into not using it last session like they wanted to. Even if we used the whole thing this session, it would cover less than half of the deficit.
d) Raise fees - Technically, fees aren't taxes. So ha! (Party time!)
e) Legalize some crimes - This is the one that really hit me today and is the reason I'm writing this entry. Here are some of the crimes it is proposed to legalize:
* Buying alcohol from liquor stores on Sundays - This is expected to lead to an increase in taxes collected. Interestingly, liquor store owners are opposing this; they think they'll just get the same amount of business, but they'll have to be open an extra day to get it all, raising their costs and reducing staff morale.
* Allow more gambling - Again, this is expected to lead to more tax revenues.
* Rescind various laws related to public schools such as for maximum classes sizes and against teacher pay cuts. This will give the schools more flexibility in dealing with the fact that they will not have enough money.
I'd rather legalize marijuana and prostitution (if we did the latter wisely like The Netherlands does). Oh, and more kinds of immigration!
f) Rescind the balanced budget law - The law that the state budget must be balanced is actually not under discussion, as far as know. Especially since we're smart enough to have a rainy day fund, I think that's awesome.
In related news, there are plans to cut funding to universities and also to freeze tuition. Apparently we're to start selling cupcakes. UT is already selling bottled water.
Quote of the Day - "The locusts aren't going to go away; they're going to drown in the blood plague."
Other Quote of the Day - "HB 1460 will raise your blood pressure by 15 millimeters systolic and diastolic." (It says, for example, that students must take at least 10% of their courses in non-traditional ways such as in summer school or online, which will magically be cheaper than the usual ways. It also says students must have an approved degree plan during the first semester after they earn 30 hours or else they won't be allowed to register for the next semester. And once they do register, they will not be allowed to register for anything that is not on their degree plan.)
Blog Entry of the Day - Wise Bread's "Disguise Your Stuff to Prevent Car Break-ins" - "... pickups and hatchbacks are unique because without a trunk, nearly all the contents are visible from the outside, and this creates a veritable display case for would-be thieves." At least go there and scroll down and look at the picture that's worth a thousand words.
I have a trunk now (for the first time ever), but if I didn't, I would be trying something like this. There's still the problem that most (all?) materials break down in the extreme heat cars around here build up inside. Plastic gets brittle and breaks. Cardboard is okay, but the glue holding boxes together disintegrates.