By Evan Horowitz, includes “Footballs aren’t the only things that need to be filled up in Massachusetts. Our state budget does too. Not only is there a surprise $765 million hole this year, new estimates suggest that the deficit next year may exceed $1 billion.
This shouldn’t be happening. When the economy is growing — as it has in recent months — the state should be taking in enough money to cover expenses and also fill up the “rainy day” fund.
Instead we’re falling further behind. You can blame growing health care costs or the long-term effect of old tax cuts, but more fundamentally there seems to be a real imbalance between what we’ve decided to do through state government and what we can afford with current tax rates. …”
Read the full article on: The Boston Globe