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The Senate Finance Committee just passed an amendment, 10-4, to House Bill 1 that says that in 2008 the tax rate will be lowered to $1. In order to get there, they will use the money generated by HB 3, 4, and 5 and then, on top of that, $2.5 billion each year ($5 billion in the next biennium) to lower the tax rate to a dollar.
There is absolutely no way to pay for that amendment except by cutting already depleted areas of state government. In order to get to $1, the Legislature will have to make even more drastic cuts in health care, public safety, criminal justice, and any other number of state services.
The Center for Public Poilcy Priorities has a study titled, "Man-Made Fiscal Crisis Worse than 2003: Cutting School Property Taxes to $1.00." As they say:
Using state revenue to replace school property taxes, cutting tax rates to $1.00 in 2008, would force a 16% cut in state spending subject to the constitutional cap on spending in the 2008-09 budget. Such a cut would needlessly force damaging cuts in vital state services. |
