Kevin Corcoran has a good article on the state of the budget entitled Budget bill moves front and center. It looks like we have something of a three-ring circus going on. The Governor wants a balanced budget, first and foremost. And if that means a modest increase in taxes, so be it. The Republican legislators are first and foremost against raising taxes; balancing the budget isn’t of particular importance to them:
“A balanced budget is not an important issue to most lawmakers or even most Hoosiers. It is to the governor,” said House Ways and Means Chairman Jeff Espich, a Uniondale Republican and chairman of the budget conference committee.
The Democratic legislators are willing to raise taxes, but are not willing to support a proposal that includes significant cuts to school budgets.
Cast in that light, I’d say I support the Governor’s position first, the Democratic legislators’ position second, and the Republican legislators’ last. A budget deficit means that the past is limiting the options of the future. The Republican lawmakers fetish against taxes goes beyond reason. Taxes are unpleasant but necessary. As long as the money is being used responsibly and expenditures are actually improving the common good, additional taxes should be a consideration. Dogmatic rejection means a legislator isn’t doing the hard work of thinking and making hard decisions about what is best for the state and the legislator’s constituents.
The article mentions other issues such as Daylight Saving Time that could make the final week of the session a pretty rough and tumble affair.
Other big bills pending are: tax amnesty, open container, Colts Stadium, Speed limits, human cloning, further consolidation of Indianapolis/Marion County government, judicial pay, telephone deregulation, methampetamine restrictions, and a new agency for child welfare issues.
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