It is human nature to look backward and assess where we’ve been. And, because we’re about to close out the 2000s, it is our nature to offer a ten-year assessment of the decade gone by. From the standpoint of our efforts to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, was it the worst era in American political history? No, but certainly not a happy one, and in case you’re wondering, that’s not a commentary on 2009 alone.
Last Monday, the head of Boise’s urban renewal agency told taxpayers to do a reverse Fleetwood Mac – stop thinking about tomorrow – when it comes to long term capital obligations for Boise’s streetcar proposal. Then, he conjured up a scenario that would require Canyon County taxpayers to share in the burden of paying the operating costs of the capital city’s streetcar system.
The Coeur d’Alene city government spends thousands of taxpayer dollars every year to show city employees they are appreciated. In fact, according to public records obtained by the Idaho Freedom Foundation, expenses under the heading of “Employee Recognition” totaled $4,489.42 in FY2009.
If Idaho lawmakers greatly reduce or eliminate funding for the arts or government-funded television, I’ll be convinced that they’re serious about not only getting state spending under control but also rebalancing the proper role of government.
While many people who have managed to hang onto their private sector jobs this year have done so by taking pay cuts, some state employees are receiving pay raises larger than the annual inflation rate. According to state records, payroll costs (salary + benefits) grew from $888,790,878.02 in FY99 to $1,339,354,569.40 in FY08. That amounts to an increase of about 50 percent, or an average of 5 percent per year. Nationally, inflation was 28.27 percent, or
You may not realize it, but your taxes help pay the salaries of some Statehouse lobbyists. Many pubically funded organizations and agencies contract with outside lobbyists, or send staff members to the legislature, to push their agendas. Among them are city urban renewal districts, school systems, universities and highway districts.
State lawmakers and the governor finally are having conversations that should have been had years ago - how to cut the size of government. That's great. Lawmakers have an extraordinary opportunity to get state spending under control, to eliminate waste and excess in every agency. But let's not stop there. Too little is being said about the other side of the spending equation: the state's disproportionately high income tax rates and the effect they have on the state's economy.