Sundquist's Ghost
Arghh. Tennessee now has an anti-income tax governor who pledges to propose a budget that doesn't spend more than the state's revenues - even if it means cutting. And he's a Democrat. Down in Georgia, theyir new governor is proposing a big tax increase and more government spending. And he claims to be a fiscally conservative Republican. Stephen Moore examines the crazy tax increase proposal from Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, who is that state's first GOP governor in a century - and as of now very likely to be a one-termer.

What is astonishing is that Perdue turned to giant tax hikes even before even pretending to make an effort to cut the badly bloated budget in Atlanta. Perdue doesn’t seem to understand that Georgia, as with most every state this year, has a chronic overspending problem — not a revenue-shortfall problem. Perdue adopts the standard left-wing education rhetoric of “meeting the needs of families and children.” Thus his budget throws money at dubious government programs: more dollars for pre-kindergarten programs, more money for foster care, more money for higher education, and more money for school construction. But if there is any money for the reform that really matters in improving academic achievement — expanding parental choice in education — I couldn’t find it in the budget, and the governor never mentioned it in his budget speech.

Tax revenue growth has exploded in Georgia over the past decade. The budget is more than twice as large as it was in 1990 — and so are total revenues. After adjusting for inflation, tax revenues have climbed from $7.1 billion to $14.4 billion. How could any rational person look at this steep revenue growth and conclude that new taxes are needed to balance the budget?

A Cato Institute study shows that if the Georgia budget had simply grown at the rate of inflation and population growth over the past decade, the state would have a $1.9 billion surplus today, not a deficit. Cato’s analysis shows that if spending had been restrained over the past decade — as many states out west require — the average Georgia household would be getting a $635 tax cut this year.

There is nothing in Perdue’s budget about tax-and-expenditure limitation measures to make sure that spending sprees don’t happen again. There is no call for an audit of state agencies to ferret out waste and inefficiency and duplication of services, things that are endemic in state budgets. There is no call for a super-majority vote-increase requirement to raise taxes. There is nothing in his budget that would require a vote of the people before taxes are raised. My suspicion is that if the Perdue tax hike were put to a vote of the people it would be soundly defeated.

Georgia Democrats are lining up to oppose Perdue's tax hike.