Over at sister blog The Locker Room, Carolina Journal Radio’s Mitch Kokai blogs about the fiscal stewardship of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has taken his state from a deficit to a surplus, proving that, yes, even in harsh economic times, it can be done. You just have to want to do it, put fiscal conservatives in office, and then implement a plan.
Here in North Carolina next year, we face a $3 billion gap between projected revenues and expenses. So can we “pull a Mitch Daniels” here in North Carolina? Yes. JLF’s John Hood makes the case in this Carolina Journal column.
No matter who wins, legislative leaders should ignore the spending lobbies and commit themselves to closing North Carolina’s budget gap without further worsening the state’s tax burden. Gov. Bev Perdue may be pursuing political theatrics rather than fiscal responsibility with her order to state agencies to prepare for cuts as high as 15 percent of the budget, the current estimated size of next year’s deficit. But legislative leaders should welcome and facilitate her efforts to prepare a 2011 budget without new taxes.
Why do I say such a budget is feasible? Because my JLF colleagues and I have looked at the numbers. We know there is at least $3 billion worth of low-priority spending in North Carolina’s state budget that can be eliminated without endangering the core responsibilities of government. We also know that other states, such as New Jersey and Indiana, have already blazed the trail in the past year, enacting some of the permanent reductions in the size and scope of state government that North Carolina should emulate.
While it is true that the vast majority of state spending goes to various education, health care, and public safety programs, that doesn’t mean these programs are equally effective. Some deliver few if any significant benefits to the taxpaying public.
