It’s great fun for elected officials — and citizens — to see some government spending for desirable programs and projects. But it’s painful to pay for them in taxes. That reality is what Gov. Bill Haslam, Tennessee legislators and all the rest of us Tennesseans are having to face in this time of economic crisis and falling revenue.
There is little support in Tennessee for higher taxes. So Haslam, in discussions on the 2011-12 Tennessee budget, says there are painful decisions ahead.
The federal government unfortunately does not have to face economic realities immediately. So with our huge national debt exceeding $14 trillion, Congress and the president have not only been taxing too much, but are spending much more, ignoring the prospect of $1.5 trillion in red ink in the coming year.
Tennessee, fortunately, can’t do that. Tennessee has to balance its budgets.
Haslam points out that some of the cuts technically were made last year, “on paper,” but have not actually been implemented yet.