We are fast approaching the point, if we haven’t already, where the basic services (state) government provides are seriously compromised. While some agencies have been spared in some of the (budget) cuts, all have been cut at one time or another. This time, K-12 education, whose funding has consistently fallen beyond the Legislature’s own standards, will be cut as well. ...
What really matters is the current strategy is not working and likely will not work unless taxes are raised, something our state leaders have persistently and stubbornly avoided.
Raising taxes may not be good politics, of course. Nor is it easy medicine for taxpayers to swallow. And while it is true, we have not sent our legislators to Jackson for the express purpose of raising taxes, neither did we send them there to dismantle the agencies that provide the services we, as taxpayers, have every right to expect. ...
Not to act, we believe, is legislative malpractice and why the governor may lament budget cuts he has made, it’s worth noting that he is not without blame. During his tenure, the Legislature has repeatedly presented bills that cut taxes, much of those for the benefit of corporations.
• The Commercial Dispatch, Columbus.
