PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Editorial: Gov. Corbett unveiled a “let the next guy worry about it” budget proposal this week amid appropriate skepticism about how he would pay for promised increases in spending on education and services for the elderly and disabled.
The governor’s plan relies too heavily on putting off the state’s bills. He would postpone full pension payments, repeating a mistake that helped the state accumulate unfunded liabilities. He would delay payments to Medicaid providers, straining the health-care industry. And he would again raid the Oil and Gas Lease Fund, which is supposed to offset the impacts of natural-gas drilling, to cover operating expenses.
With $400 million in new spending, Corbett is proposing the greatest boost to education funding since he took office, which is a welcome turn in the right direction. However, it would not cover the $1 billion loss to education spending after federal stimulus funds dried up. School districts around the state have reduced programs and laid off essential personnel to cope with those cuts… (more)
WATCHDOG: Future revenue problems? Isn’t future tax revenue being pledged to pay debt service on bonds via the CRIZ program? Let our children and grandchildren tighten their belts.
Isn’t Newslanc more than a little disingenuous? Hasn’t Newslanc argued strenuously for greater debt knowing that future generations would have to pay for it?
EDITOR: One last time…hopefully.
If the government, federal or state, borrows money to build a bridge, it has debt but it also has a bridge
Under CRIZ, money is borrowed to benefit a private hotel, for example. The state has to pay for it out of future tax revenues, but the state does not own the hotel. It is privately owned!
Got it?