T
he Granite State Fair Tax Coalitions (GSFTC) most recent shill is for unions and spending as usual. This months argument is an Op-Ed by Cathy Silber of GSFTC, forwarded by Mark Fernald. It’s standard pro-union, blame the economy pap. Hardly worth the bother. But Cathy did say something that got me thinking.
Let’s also remember that the unprecedented size of the budget gap we’re facing was caused by the Great Recession. Revenues plummeted. It’s a revenue problem.
I’m going to have to respectfully disagree. This is a democrat problem. Stupid democrats to be more precise. (OK, maybe not so respectfully.)
We are told that the Great Recession started in 2007. Looking back, who was in control of New Hampshire in 2007? Democrats. The Housing crisis reached its media zenith in the fall of 2008, banks faltered, the market dipped, employment tanked, the dollar went for a ride, consumer confidence continued downward, energy prices soared, and things generally went to hell. Wages were flat or declining (unless you were in a Public union) and people were struggling to cut corners to keep their homes and cars, and lifestyles in tact. Money was tight all around.
So in the face of this economic catastrophe, which the democrats happily sold as a disaster not unlike a Biblical plague, what did NH Democrats do? Did they target spending and manage the state to make the best use of a dwindling resource? No. They spent your money like a gold digger and added 23% to the cost of government during a recession. They demanded 13% more revenue than when times were "good " or at least better. And then they went after 10% on top of that the next chance they got.
You could call that a revenue problem, if by that you mean "democrats imagined revenue to justify increased spending we could not afford during a recession." Or how about "democrats were selfish, ideological, tax and spend A-holes, who couldn’t be trusted to divide up a dinner check. This makes them either completely incompetent or criminally insane; neither of which gives them the moral authority to govern responsibly nor the reputation to comment intelligently about anyone elses efforts to unimagine that which never existed.
The new budget sees revenue in real terms, terms the democrats naturally demagogue as underestimated. Underestimated? Really? That’s your talking point? You overestimate for four years, scramble year after years to come up with some scheme to allow you to call the budget balanced, raise 100 taxes and fees, burn through one-time money, increase debt and borrowing, use accounting gimmicks that would get the average businessman tossed in jail, lie about a surplus, and then leave a $900 million dollar structural deficit in your wake, and you want us to believe you having clue what you are talking about?
So yeah Silber, there is at least one revenue problem. You get your revenue from tax and spend progressives in exchange for carrying the broad-based, grow government, tax memes for a political party that can’t manage pocket change let alone a state budget. But you go on peddling your tripe. And keep trying to plant that image of how fair a broad based tax is. We’ll keep reminding people just how stupid that all sounds in the real world by showing them all the failed states where it’s been tried, and what happens when you put democrats in charge of your wallet.
