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August 26, 2003
No New Taxes
Sonny Perdue says he won't request any new revenue sources in the 2004 budget. He's somewhat hedged his bets, leaving open the fact that he may accept new taxes if the legislature initiates them.
Here's the problem. Georgia faces up to a $1 billion deficit out of a budget that runs about $16 billion. At the very least (and this is a conservative estimate) half of the budget will be off limits, as it's spent on education and health care. Roads and infrastructure spending is probably also off limits, but for the sake of simplicity we'll say half of the budget is off limits. This means that approximately $1 of every $8 of state spending must be cut, or the economy needs to turn around.
In my experience, state employees do more with less (including technologically outdated and inferior office equipment) than most workers in the large economy private sector. Most major corporations couldn't cut 13% of their budget in one year, and I frankly don't see how the state will be able to.
In the meantime, we'll read more stories about long lines at the DMV and missing children in DFCS. People will no doubtedly complain and partisan tempers in the state house will reach new highs. You've been warned.
Posted by Chris at August 26, 2003 08:48 PM
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