In The Gold Diggers of 1933,Ginger Rogers sang “We’re In the Money,” and a catch phrase was born. Now, state lawmakers are singing the same tune after revenues for this year jumped to a record $600 billion.
And what are states doing with that windfall? Why, spending it, of course.
As USA Today explains, states “are nourishing pet projects that were ignored during hard times from 2001 to 2003. New road projects and class-size reductions are popular spending items.”
There will be a new medical school in Arizona, more money for a tourism board and, incredibly in California, a 12 percent increase for state lawmakers’ salaries.
Indeed, the National Governors Association notes that state spending on general operations has only decreased in five of the last 25 years. That doesn’t include the hundreds of billions states spend — waste? — on public education.
So who’s surprised when the NGA says that only 10 states gave money back to its citizens in the form of tax cuts? Pennsylvania returned the most — at $175 million — and Florida came in a close second at $165 million.
Of the other 40 states, 22 increased taxes and the remainder took no revenue action at all. Legislators think it’s their money so don’t ask any questions, much like Beatle George Harrison described it in “I am the Taxman”:
“Don't ask me what I want it for, if you don't want to pay some more,
'Cause I’m the taxman. Yeah, I’m the taxman.”
Of course, the sad fact is that the source of this newfound wealth is ignored. There is an almost tacit assumption that when state coffers are increasing, it’s because lawmakers are doing a better job.
But the truth is that when lawmakers are singing “We’re in the money,” they haven’t earned anything — they’ve taken it from the taxpayers.