It appears that the governor is completely ruling out increases in revenue as he looks for a solution to our state's fiscal woes. It's a political calculation I'm sure; going into an election year he doesn't want to close tax loopholes and do away with tax credits. I suppose that's an understandable position but I can't say that I agree with it. Colorado loses around $2 billion in revenue via tax credits every single year. Our budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year is $384 billion, or about 20% of that $2 billion.
Refusing to even consider taping new revenue streams means that the governor is going to be forced to completely shutter some state programs and offices, layoff workers and probably release at least some non-violent offenders from our state's correctional facilities. These sorts of cuts and layoffs will hurt the state and not just the affected state workers. Essential services will suffer and never recover.
I understand that the governor is in a very difficult spot both from a policy and political perspective. What I don't understand though is completely walling off one obvious and necessary option and doing it so publicly and so early in the process.
In a fantasy world that I sometimes like to inhabit my governor would stand up and talk to the people of Colorado like adults. He'd explain this situation and he'd have an honest discussion about essential state services and our lack of revenue. He'd do the right thing and risk the political hit. He'd tap new revenue streams and he'd campaign on fiscal reform to bring Colorado education, healthcare and infrastructure up to the levels that we so desperately need as a state to thrive.
Like I said though, that's a fantasy. In reality Ritter is going to slash state services to a level that many programs will never recover from. He's going to put people out of work in the midst of a deep recession. He's going to try and protect his right flank in the 2010 campaign and in the meantime ensure that the issue of fiscal reform is kicked down the road to some other time when it may be more politically convenient for him or some other state leader. He's going to abandon The Colorado Promise that got him elected by such a wide margin in 2006 in the hopes that he can hold on for a second term.
What he hopes to do in that second term while the state is still lacking in new revenue streams, is still held hostage by TABOR and after many programs that he tacitly supports have been shuttered I'm not sure. But he wants that second term, he wants it more than anything and he obviously doesn't care what the state looks like in 2011 and beyond so long as he gets to remain governor.
2 comments:
You're exactly right. He won't do the right thing, which would be sensible and actually beneficial to the state. Instead, more Coloradoans will suffer because of his desire for re-election, when he wouldn't have to be worrying as much about his chances for re-election if he had not alienated his base, as he will again with this stupid announcement.
I would love to see a bullet point summary of all the revenue raising options that Colorado has right now along with the dollar amounts in question, ideally matched with a line item budget for the state that goes about one items more detailed than the department by department summary that is most common. I don't have the time to do it, but surely someone must.
While this someone is at it, I'd also love to see a Colorado specific "wish list" of things that Ritter could do for labor and hasn't ruled out, as a way to heal rifts. There aren't all that many moving parts of labor law that are subject to state rather than federal law, but surely the are some.
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