海角大神

It鈥檚 the same situation in all states, actually. Virtually all state governments have some sort of 鈥渂alanced budget requirement.鈥� (See Table 11 on pages 40-41 in of the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO).) The constraints take on a variety of degrees of stringency, but (i.e., matter). Even in Vermont, the only state that doesn鈥檛 have any sort of balanced budget requirement, the NASBO report indicates that 鈥渋n practice, a deficit has not been carried over.鈥�

So in Virginia (where I live and work), we鈥檙e now offered a little insight into what balancing the budget entirely on the spending side looks like, with (emphasis added):

RICHMOND 鈥� The Virginia General Assembly adjourned its annual legislative session Sunday evening after adopting a two-year, $82 billion budget that cuts millions from education, health care and public safety 鈥� curtailing state spending more aggressively than any in generations while fulfilling the new Republican governor鈥檚 promise not to raise taxes.

The trade-off for holding firm against a tax increase to plug a $4 billion hole was a spending plan that cuts deeply into virtually every area of state responsibility.

鈥淲e tried to keep our word,鈥� said House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem). 鈥淲e knew times were tough, but the state has to live within its means, just as families have to live within theirs.鈥�

Funding for schools will drop $646 million over the next two years; the state will also cut more than $1 billion from health programs. Class sizes will rise. A prison will close, judges who die or retire won鈥檛 be replaced and funding for local sheriff鈥檚 offices will drop 6 percent.

Only 250 more mentally disabled adults will receive money to get community-based services, in a state where the waiting list for such services numbers 6,000 and is growing. Employees will take a furlough day this year, the state will borrow $620 million in cash from its retirement plan for employees and future employees will be asked to retire later and contribute more to their pensions.

Medical care providers will see Medicaid payments from the state trimmed, and fewer poor children will be enrolled in state health care, although those health cuts could be tempered by anticipated federal funds. Funding for the arts and public broadcasting will be cut by 15 percent over two years.

Thank goodness the federal government is able to run a deficit in bad economic times like these, otherwise there would be no social safety net at all. But I don鈥檛 mean to say thank goodness deficits occur at all times. In my mind deficits at the national level are justified and even wise under two types of circumstances: (i) as treatment for a temporary emergency鈥揵e it a war, a natural disaster, or an economic recession; or (ii) in order to fund economically-fruitful investments that pay off over the course of several years in a broader net social benefit, not just private benefit, sense鈥搃nvestments that otherwise couldn鈥檛 be funded if annual deficits were not allowed.

Much of federal deficit-financed spending (and tax cuts) of course does not fall under these two categories, which means we shouldn鈥檛 be so grateful for the federal government鈥檚 seemingly unlimited capacity to borrow at all times (good or bad) and for all sorts of things (wise investments or wasteful spending). And that鈥檚 why the President鈥檚 fiscal commission is a good idea. But the Virginia example may provide a little window into what the federal government would look like if Congressman Paul Ryan, and the author of a entirely on the spending side, got his way. What Virginia will be cutting looks like a lot more than just 鈥渨aste, fraud, and abuse.鈥� But I guess I鈥檓 supposed to be happy about my taxes staying low, and people like me who (at the moment) have good jobs and income and health aren鈥檛 supposed to think that 鈥渢here but for the grace of God go I鈥� when we see our fellow citizens losing their safety net just as they鈥檙e falling.

I鈥檓 not so sure the motto 鈥淰irginia Is For Lovers鈥� is very fitting鈥� unless it refers to loving low taxes.

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