June 4, 2005

Spending Spree

Here is the latest draft of my new research paper, Spending Spree: The Bipartisan Assault That is Killing The Constitutional Cap on the Growth of Tennessee's State Budget, for your reading enjoyment. If you have downloaded it previously, this new version contains additional information and corrects some factual errors. When the paper is completely finished, it will be augmented with extensive footnotes, and I'll create an online version with hyperlinks instead of footnotes.

The paper demonstrates that tax increases that have been passed by Tennessee's previous three governors, all in their second terms, were driven by their inability to restrain the growth of state spending to the limit set forth by the state constitution - not by shrinking revenue from an "obsolete tax code" as proponents of a state income tax often claim. The paper further demonstrates that the each time the legislature and governor break the constitutional cap on the growth of state spending, it has an ongoing "ratchet-up" impact on state spending, leading to tax increases - and how current Gov. Phil Bredesen is following the same fiscally reckless footsteps of his three immediate predecessors.