Indiana leaders patted themselves on the back on Thursday because of a bigger than expected amount of money in the state’s checking account.
State Auditor Tim Berry said Indiana finished the fiscal year on June 30 with nearly $1.2 billion in the bank, more than 40 percent above last year’s finish, when tax revenues were plunging and budget makers were worried that the state would run out of money this year.
Berry said the rebound happened because of a recovery in tax collections and Gov. Mitch Daniels‘ success in cutting the budget.
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Although the state showed a remarkable turn-around from the preceding year due to common sense conservative fiscal policies enacted by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels the leading Democrat House Leader Pat Bauer found reason to criticize.
House Democratic Leader Pat Bauer said the surplus came at a cost and that the budget was balanced on the backs of schools and needy children.
“So this great $1 billion surplus is based on children, cutting children’s health, cutting education, cutting people who have suffered because of this Great Recession,” he said.Bauer said Daniels needs to spend more on job creation, although Indiana has by far the lowest unemployment in the Midwest.
A Democrat is not happy unless a state is near bankrupt, running large deficits and panders to public sector union demands. It was precisely because of concessions made by these groups that Indiana went from running in the red to an actual budget surplus.
“Without raising taxes and by carefully watching spending, Indiana state government has continued to live within its means,” Berry said. “For those who believe that raising taxes is the only way out of a fiscal crisis, I say take a look at the Hoosier state.”
Indiana’s financial situation is far better than its neighboring states, particularly Illinois, which implemented massive tax increases to shore up its finances.”More money in Hoosiers’ incomes and a terrific job of cost control by state employees working together joined to produce an even stronger result than we expected at budget time,” Daniels said
The contrast couldn’t be starker. Tax cuts work every time they are tried and when implemented produce greater prosperity and increased tax revenues because employment increases. When taxes are raised, unemployment rises and tax revenues shrink, and yet Democrats always push for more taxes and more spending.
The Democrats love to sing the same old song about how tax and spending cuts hurt the elderly, the children, the poor and needy, and of course their sacred cow of education. Which is better for all these groups, a vibrant economy where everyone’s incomes rise or a failing economy where everyone’s incomes diminish?
Indiana is an example to the rest of America for what needs to be done on a national level to get our fiscal house in order. If you have listened to the debt ceiling debate all week you have heard the democrats all singing the same song Pat Bauer of Indiana has sung. Republican spending cuts will hurt women, children, the elderly and the poor. While they continue to propose tax increases and more spending which has led our nation to the brink of collapse.
You decide the better plan, tax and spend like a democrat or balancing a budget like a fiscal conservative republican. I choose the latter because it works everywhere it has been tried.
And that is a view from the nest. What say you?
(BBE)Along for the journey
