November 16, 2007

Growing Budget Crisis Exposes Bredesen Administration's Excessive Spending

Gov. Phil Bredesen's administration announced today that, three months into the fiscal year, the state budget has a $135.9 million revenue shortfall, and blamed lower-then-projected tax collections.

What they won't tell you is that the shortfall isn't a revenue problem.

The truth is that the shortfall was created by the excessive spending of Gov. Bredesen and his Democratic allies in the legislature.

Republican legislators urged fiscal restraint during budget negotiations in the General Assembly in May, but Democrats stuck with the Bredesen spending plan and passed a budget that exceeds the state constitution's "Copeland Cap" limit on the annual growth of spending by a whopping $723 million, or $60.25 million every month.

If Bredesen and the Democrats had kept spending within the constitutional limit, Tennessee today would not have a $135.9 million revenue shortfall three months into the fiscal year - it would have a surplus of nearly $45 million.

The spending cap exists to keep the cost of government from growing faster than the ability of the average Tennessee taxpayer to afford it. Unfortunately, Bredesen and the Democrats in the legislature have Tennessee on a path of excessive spending, which leads to shortfalls and tax increases.

Update: The adminstration claims the revenue numbers are evidence of a slowing economy, and yet just yesterday the state reported that unemployment continues to decline and is now half a percentage point lower than a year ago.