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Does anyone else see the paucity of political vision and will in such overly simplisitic recommendations? The B&G Report does:
Across-the-board cuts — or even across the board hiring freezes — feel like some of the silliest means of saving cash in hard times. Their use is an outright denial of the notion that government should know how efficiently different agencies function or even that government is responsible for setting priorities. Consider this: A study by the Institute for Wisconsin's Future estimated that hiring 155 new tax-collection agents or auditors would pull in some $175 million in new revenues over the next two years. Over the course of time, the state has failed to replace tax agents and auditors, which leaves it with this much low-hanging fruit [Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, The B&G Report, 2009.02.05].
Calling for across-the-board cuts dodges a hard analysis of what works in government and what doesn't. Sometimes spending money (funding Birth to 3 Connections, supporting graduate research) saves or makes more money. It takes political vision to recognize the difference and will to argue for cuts in one program but increases in another.
Well said. The only thing worse than across the board cutting policy is a deliberate, cowardly policy of targeting the majority of cuts to programs with many vocal and well financed lobbyists in the programs' constituency.
ReplyDeleteYou do realize that Governing is written by government administrators for government administrators.
ReplyDeleteOf course they're opposed to across the board cuts.
Anon@8:43 - should have written "without" . . .
ReplyDeleteThe only thing worse than across the board cutting policy is a deliberate, cowardly policy of targeting the majority of cuts to programs without many vocal and well financed lobbyists in the programs' constituency.
We don't need the government to provide for all of our needs. What happened to personal responsibility and taking care of our own.
ReplyDeleteA few hours of volunteering would makes us all feel better about ourselves while helping someone else. We don't need any Congress or the SD Legislature to do that for us.
A study by the Institute for Wisconsin's Future estimated that hiring 155 new tax-collection agents or auditors would pull in some $175 million in new revenues over the next two years.
ReplyDeleteThat's over $1 million per collection agent. It suggests that there are lots of tax evaders in Wisconsin. I wonder why?
On topic: Cory, this post makes me realize that my suggestion of an "across the board" spending cut (in an earlier post) was overly simplistic. Maybe I would have done better to suggest an "overall" spending cut. I wasn't thinking; I was in effect recommending the use of a hatchet to perform brain surgery.
I suspect, in any case, that some government-program surgery must be done here in South Dakota. I don't claim to know which programs deserve cutting the most, but I would hope that education doesn't have to suffer any cuts at all.
We've got a huge number of people collecting money for services rendered - from lawnmowing and snow removal to photography - and not bothering to collect sales tax or remitting it to the state.
ReplyDeleteWe have a use tax in this state that most people are ignorant of. You still need to pay use tax on internet or catalog sales even though a vendor did not charge sales tax to you on your purchase.
Anon,
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you should bring up the matter of the use tax. You are absolutely right.
The problem is enforcement. As a sole proprietor of record, I have registered for sales tax, so I have to report use tax on things like Internet purchases or else lay a goose egg on the use tax line of my sales tax return, which would make me look suspect.
The use tax amounts to about $50 to $75 a year on Internet and catalog purchases in my case. However, I try to minimize such purchases and keep my business in-state. Some people doubtless owe a lot more use tax every year than I do, but because there's no way to track their purchases, they can get away without reporting it. And, as you say, many people don't even know about it.
I think we ought to enforce the collection of taxes that already exist, before we impose any new ones or increase any of the rates. Governor Rounds has expressed support for the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, which would capture this lost revenue without setting up an onerous surveillance network to track individuals' purchases.
The worst thing we could do, in my opinion, would be to impose a state income tax and thereby create a whole new buraucracy, a whole new set of forms to fill out, a whole new batch of tax evaders, and a whole lot of angry people.