Want to stop spending? Just do it
Republicans say they want to stop spending so much money in state government. They have a big majority in both houses of the legislature, so why don't they just do it? That's what Carrie Lynch and the Wisconsin State Journal want to know.
Instead, it's Bride of TABOR, and "Stop me before I spend again."
Seth Zlotocha's analysis suggests the impact of Bride of TABOR would be much more severe than those pushing it will admit.
posted by xoff @ 9:06 AM
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1 Comments:
Déjà vu all over again!
State budget called a mess
Study’s author says Wisconsin is among worst in managing its finance
By STEVEN WALTERS of the Journal Sentinel staff
Sunday, September 9, 2001
Madison—A lack of reserves and the use of financial gimmicks make Wisconsin’s fiscal management among the worst in the nation, according to the author of a national study being released today.
In fact, Wisconsin “may win the prize” of having the worst state budget mess, said Iris J. Lav, deputy director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank, and a co- author of the study.
The report criticized Wisconsin’s elected officials for passing a budget with an accounting “gimmick” of selling off decades of cigarette manufacturers’ annual payments, and using $450 million from that sale to pay for state government’s year-to-year operating expenses.
Alliance President Todd Berry called this pattern a “long history of over-promising” by elected officials of both parties.
For Berry, it’s just more evidence for a claim he first made in a Wisconsin Public Television interview: Wisconsin’s state budget is in the worst shape of all 50 states.
Journal Sentinel reporters Avrum D. Lank in Milwaukee and Tom Held in Madison contributed to this report.
Fast forward to 2006…
Now Grothman, Wood and Lasee have a solution. Let the people decide!
At the heart of the cry for " tax and spending reform," in my opinion, lies a perverse belief that government is a not-so-necessary evil, a system of institutionalized greed that exists to serve pampered workers and selfish politicians. This cartoonish view of our public life, fostered with glee by the " nattering nabobs of negativism " in the Milwaukee radio market, has induced a collective amnesia in the electorate. Don’t worry about just what it is our tax dollars support, from clean streets and safe streets to the streets themselves, not to mention the necessities that line them: schools, libraries, fire stations, parks and all the other elements of our common life. They’re not at risk. Trust us. Calls for cutting taxes are rarely accompanied by sufficiently mindful proposals of how we'll deal with the results.
As the howling wind of "reform" blows ever harder, the demagogues in Madison all levels are engaged in a dangerous game of chicken, practically daring anyone to vote against this simplistic tripe.
In the process, governing has been replaced by grandstanding, fiscal responsibility by a fiscal free-for-all. Leadership has taken a holiday. It's as if the Queen of Hearts from "Alice in Wonderland" had seized control. "Off with her head!" she screams, and politicians with even modestly broader agendas run for cover.
We all have programs we hate, but just try to take away the ones we care about. While I'd like to pick and choose, civilization doesn't let me make those choices -- and that's a good thing.
Like many, I'd like to throw out the entire system and start again, maintaining true progressivity and ending almost all deductions. We could lower rates for everyone that way, and save billions on accountants, lawyers and overall tax-dodge schemes.
We should punish not reward, the corporations (and individuals) that set up mail-drop headquarters in overseas tax havens. What they do is nothing less than economic treason, because when they duck paying their fair share they punish everyone else.
Sadly it appears that the reflexive anti-tax mantra of so many politicians and anti-government zealots, and voters' willingness to follow their seductive come-ons, will continue until the system starts to collapse of its own weight.
In the meantime, I plan to grumble about the taxes I'd rather not pay to support programs I don't like. But I'll also remind myself that I live in a mostly civilized society and want to keep it that way.
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