TABOR? Why Not Just Follow the Constitution?
Article 8, Section 13 of Pennsylvania's state Constitution requires a balanced budget. The Constitution states that the General Assembly shall not make appropriations that exceed actual and estimated revenues and surplus available in the same fiscal year. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania cannot adopt a budget that exceeds its revenues.
3 comments:
Different aim.
This isn't about *balancing* the budget, but about *constraining its total growth*. I.e., if a balanced budget is submitted in which additional expenditures are requested, they must be met by cuts rather than by increases in taxes of any sort. If a crisis arises, or the state's residents need a short-term intervention, too bad -- we can only spend x% more than last year, under any circumstances.
It's not too hard to imagine a scenario in which this would cause a problem.
Oh, not only does it cap aid in bad years, but it actually caps spending even when state income increases due to economic good times -- i.e., the extra has to be given back to taxpayers rather than spent. Which is fine, if you distrust all government efforts and programs, but otherwise...
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=10960
If you want to form a concrete opinion of TABOR, study the states that have implemeneted the system and the headaches caused, i.e. Colorado.
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