Money is always tight. That is the nature of money. There is never enough.
Our Legislature is grappling with this reality. Tax collections are below expectations. Government services are being adjusted as a result. Tough cuts are being made.
Those who believe government is not doing enough are howling. Those who believe government must tax less are defending their actions. The debate goes on.
There is a season for everything. Sometimes it is wise to cut. Other times it is wise to spend. Judgment and balance are critical, but politics makes such discretion difficult. Elections must first be won to govern and the voting populace needs to understand the big picture.
Our current Republican leadership gets high marks for containing the budget and cutting costs. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to spend more money now to avoid spending even more money later. Road maintenance is a perfect example. Penny-wise on maintenance leads to pound-foolish down the road.
State spending has increased hugely since 1990, even adjusted for population and inflation. Since the Republicans came to power, spending growth is a fraction of what it once was.
So when Gov. Phil Bryant complains that even with his proposed cuts, state government is still spending more, he is correct. That’s an important point to accept if we want to debate rationally.
There are two main aspects of state spending: the general fund and the overall budget. The general fund is money produced by general state taxes such as property, sales, income, corporate and vehicle taxes.
The overall budget is four times the general fund budget. It includes special-purpose funds such as the gas tax and federal dollars appropriated to Mississippi. For instance, Mississippi spends $1 billion of its own money on social welfare while the feds spend $6 billion.
In unadjusted dollars, Mississippi’s general fund was $1.91 billion in 1990. Today it is $5.79 billion. That’s a big increase. Adjusted for inflation and population, we’re spending 40 percent more general fund dollars than we were in 1990.
Total state spending has increased even more dramatically over the last 27 years, from $4.43 billion (unadjusted) in 1990 to $20.05 billion today. Adjusted for inflation and population, our total state spending is 109 percent more than 1990. That’s double.
If we were spending the same amount of money per capita, adjusted for inflation, as we were in 1990, we would be spending about $10 billion less than we are now in total state spending. That’s about $8,000 per household.
The big debate is this: Who can spend that $8,000 more wisely, the government or the individual households?
In 2010, the general fund expenditures were $401 million for social welfare. Today that number is over a billion in unadjusted dollars. It’s hard to accuse the Republicans of being insensitive to social welfare given these numbers. Education spending is $3.1 billion today compared to $2.95 billion in 2000. Given inflation, Mississippi education spending has declined over 10 years. That’s not good.
The difficulty is crystallized in the debate over mental health. One in 10 Mississippians will suffer serious mental illness. When this strikes a family, the effect is overwhelming. Families are left to deal with the mental illness, yet they have no training or background to do so. Without proper treatment, the mentally ill often end up in our prison system, which ends up costing even more. Scrimping on mental illness is not only morally wrong, it’s financially imprudent.
You can make the same argument with education, road maintenance and a host of other governmental services.
Then there is the waste and inefficiency that is intrinsic to public bureaucracy. If our mental illness state expenditures are wasted on bureaucracy, is it better to leave the money in the pockets of the private families who have to deal with the crisis?
There are no easy answers to these tough questions. That’s why the debate is intense with legitimate points on both sides. It is a balancing act. That’s why we need two vibrant political parties on each side of this great debate. That’s why we need respect, civility and leadership in the political process.
Wyatt Emmerich is the editor and publisher of The Northside Sun, a weekly newspaper in Jackson. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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