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« Spending Cap on Finance Committee Agenda TODAY | Main | Legislators Meet In Secret To Discuss Spending Your Tax Dollars » May 22, 2006Why Are They Misleading Media on True Size of Surplus?
New state estimates place this year's surplus at around $88 million. That's the rosiest picture. But even the low estimate for the surplus the state will collect by June 30 is $37 million, officials said.The surplus is only $37 to $88 million? Who are they trying to fool? On May 9, the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration reported that, nine months into the current fiscal year, Tennessee state government already has a revenue surplus of $226.7 million - with yet three more months of revenue collections to go. The F&A press release on May 9 stated: The revised estimates presented in the new budget document assume an $86 million surplus in sales tax collections, a surplus of $61.6 million in franchise and excise taxes, and a general fund surplus of $177.4 million.Why is the Bredesen administration now trying to "hide" $110 million of the surplus? Could it have something to do with the Bredesen administration's opposition to reducing the sales tax on groceries? Could it have something to do with the Bredesen administration's opposition to Senate Joint Resolution 629, a proposed constitutional amendment that would make it harder for the legislature to break the constitution's cap on the annual growth of state spending? Or could it be that the Bredesen administration wants the freedom to spend the "unbudgeted dollars" free of legislative oversight when the legislature is out of session? History suggests the answer is all of the above. Meanwhile, as today's Nashville City Paper reports, lawmakers are seeking to blow the state's surplus on pet projects and pork. It's worth noting that most of the lawmakers mentioned in the pork-spending story are Democrats, including state Rep. Mike Turner of Old Hickory," who told the City Paper, "We haven't done a lot of good things so far to help people. I hope we can do that with leftover money in the governor's budget." You can, Rep. Turner. You can vote to use the whole surplus to reduce the sales tax on groceries. There is not one single Tennessee resident whom that would not help. Posted in Tennessee Government News
Comments
Now remember Bill, it all depends on how you look at taxes. Bill Clinton called retroactive tax increases "investments" although we get very little if any return on these "investments". The Knoxville News Sentinel editor claims Tennessee taxpayers are "fortunate" if the state decides to spend every penny of the $200+ million surplus. That ranks right up there with "life's lottery" for busting your butt to get ahead. Since the 2007 budget will start at the total revenue received for 2006, this gives Bredesen & Company the opportunity to begin new recurring feel good programs as well as increase funding for current pet projects like Pre-K, now at $50M/year but estimated to eventually grow to a $300 million per year daycare service. This is how we ended up with a sales tax increase after 2001 to pay for this kind of budgetary slight of hand. That's why SR629 is REQUIRED to get this abhorrent behavior under some type of control. Politicians are hooked on spending like drug addicts and seem to experience the same effects. Hallucinations, delusions of grandeur, euphoria. Most likely akin to the adrenal rush a thief experiences while committing a crime. Posted by: Rick Forman at May 22, 2006 10:12 AMPost a comment
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NASHVILLE - State officials are continuing to mislead the public via news reports about the true size of the state's tax revenue surplus. In a story in today's Tennessean by Trent Siebert headlined