State budget will miss mark again
5:27 PM 6/25/03

The Legislature has put its final stamp on the state budget, and now it's up to Gov. Jim Doyle to sign this deficit-reduction plan, veto parts of it or reject it all. Capitol insiders will be anxiously awaiting signals from the East Wing. But actually, the game is already over, and despite what you'll soon be told by the politicians, you lost.

How can that be? This budget won't raise sales or income taxes, and the latest version would even impose property tax levy limits on local governments and schools. To the taxpayer, that sounds like a deal.

But state politicians have failed to accomplish their most important objectives: to eliminate a structural deficit that past governors and legislatures created through fiscal mismanagement, and to develop clear spending priorities for the future. These failures guarantee that taxpayers will continue to see a diminishing return on tax dollars.

After months of work, Wisconsin has a patchwork $48.9 billion two-year budget that is likely to leave the next Legislature facing a structural deficit that could range from the $881 million built into Doyle's original budget to $1.1 billion under the GOP legislative version. The final number depends on how Doyle chooses to wield his veto pen.

Most tough decisions about state government financing once again have been put off. Revamp education aid? Maybe next year. Curb skyrocketing prison costs? Not now, it's economic development.

Don't be fooled. As USA Today reported in a series on state fiscal crises, the financial problems plaguing Wisconsin and many other state governments this year have much less to do with a weak economy than with the inability of governors and lawmakers to manage our money wisely. By almost any measure, state governments have suffered less than businesses and taxpayers during the economic downturn. Yet states face their worst financial difficulties in 60 years.

The real problem is that fiscal responsibility makes poor politics. In states that manage money well, taxpayer benefits tend to be invisible: Services don't get cut, tax hikes aren't needed and nobody borrows to sustain spendthrift ways.

States that don't manage money well, like Wisconsin, tend to flash around the cash, offering tantalizing tax breaks while boosting spending. That's not sustainable long-term, but it wins upcoming elections.

It's easy to fault the politicians solely, but we all bear some responsibility for this budget session's failures. Elected officials do our bidding, and polls appear to show that we want even more spending on education, health care and other services - without paying more taxes to cover the costs.

This isn't realistic. To stabilize state finances and bring government costs in line with our ability to pay, we must re-examine our basic expectations of government - and give politicians a clear roadmap of priorities for our tax dollars.