Jack Betts worries the state may cut essential services if tax reform is not also a tax increase. But the budget passed for FY2010 is $750 million more than actual spending in FY2009. Clearly there is room to save.
Betts’ column makes clear that tax reform depends on spending reform, including a good definition of what essential services are. Girard Miller in Governing Magazine offers six ways to deal with the new normal economic environment. Among the nuggets of advice:
If basic services such as roads and public safety are all the community can afford, then it may be time to begin a long-term process of downsizing or eliminating activities that were great ideas but are simply unaffordable in light of other costs.
The problem in North Carolina has not been a lack of revenue, but a lack of focus on how best to use the revenue. Taxpayers have not had a good return on their investment in government and can’t see much of how the state spends their money. There are still plenty of ideas on how to pare non-essential programs and fix the budgeting process.
