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It can be hard for politicians to come to an agreement on one issue. But if there’s a consensus among all Wisconsin legislators, it’s that we all cherish our great state and want it to be the place that businesses come to grow; the state that families come to raise their children and the state that paves the way for innovation and ingenuity.
During his State of the State address, Gov. Jim Doyle said he would prioritize rebuilding Wisconsin’s economy. As the governor acknowledged, too many people are still wondering where the jobs in Wisconsin are. The fact is, almost one out of every 10 people is out of a job. We’re just now feeling the devastating effects of the $5 billion in tax and fee increases from last year. And to top it off, the state is already facing a $2.71 billion deficit for the next fiscal year.
Last year, I advocated for a state spending freeze in order to eliminate the $5.7 billion budget deficit. Government spending ended up growing by 6.8 percent even with over $2 billion dollars in federal stimulus dollars. As any family or business knows, when finances are tight, you learn how to make do on less. You learn how to streamline your expenses and trim your budget. It’s called getting back to the basics.
It is long overdue for the government to budget the same way. It’s time to face our state’s serious fiscal problems head on and admit that we’ve made some budgeting mistakes in the past. Credit-card spending, raiding of segregated funds and accounting tricks are not sustainable budgeting techniques and do not align with the budgeting methods of families and businesses across the state.
Next year, a state spending freeze will not even be enough to eliminate the projected deficit, according to a recent report by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. A comparison of estimated revenue and spending projections reveals that even with an increase in state tax revenue and spending increases at customary rates in four basic areas (K-12 school funding, the Medical Assistance program, the University of Wisconsin System and the corrections system) while freezing spending for all other programs, there will still be a $2.71 billion gap between the state’s revenues and expenditures next year.
The only way to create long-term economic stability in the coming years will be to establish a form of budgeting that streamlines government spending, reduce taxes and let people keep more of their money. Senate Republicans have authored a job-incentives package that will help foster job growth in the private sector and allow people keep more of their money. This is when real economic stability is created — when businesses are able to invest back into their own investments and when people are able to invest into the economy. An environment of excessive government growth, increased regulation and high taxes stifles consumer spending and business growth.
The people of Wisconsin are rightly demanding that government listens to their concerns and begin to put our state back on track by learning how to budget in a fiscally responsible way. This is exactly why I have authored the Sunshine Budgeting Act that will restore state agency accountability through agency audits, establish a segregated lockbox stem and will create a zero-based budgeting method in 2011 for each department.
The people of Wisconsin expect state government leaders to conduct business in a fiscally wise manner. Let’s prove that our great state is serious about creating long-term economic stability by budgeting responsibly, reducing state spending, and limiting government regulation of businesses and by lowering taxes. There’s no longer any time to disagree on this issue. Wisconsinites deserve a state government that is unified in its pursuit of back-to-basics budgeting and common-sense spending.
Dan Kapanke represents the 32nd District in the Wisconsin Senate.
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