U.S. states suffer "unbelievable" revenue shortages

Reuters ^ | 10/09/09 | Lisa Lambert

[mdmathis6]

It’s interesting that some of theses states drops in tax collections matches closely to their current unemployment rates...which means the unemployment rate in Ga. must be horrible!

[wally_bert]

90% of the State of SC workforce could be cut and most (productive) people wouldn’t notice.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Gee, I guess governments will have to get smaller then.

[ElayneJ]

“Jenny Granholm said we had a “breathtaking” tobacco and lottery revenue decline several months ago.”

She said this? Well, looks like the more we demonize smokers the less cigarette revenuw we get. Who would have guessed that?
I’m sick of seeing GH trotted out like a democrat hero - in case no one has noticed, we’re not doing all that well over here!!

[John W]

“The fact is clear. Iowa has not spent too much; rather our revenue has fallen off by significant amounts as the result of the national economic recession,” Governor Culver said in a statement.

[Plumres]

Or, if government workers were treated as the rest of us are by this economy, what they should expect to take as a paycut.
______________________________________________

What pay cut? My school teachers are guaranteed 3.5% raise per year for the next 4 years AND any steps raises during that time. Such a deal.

[mountainlion]

This could be a plan to crash the economy to sell out to the “new world order”

[xrmusn]

They spent like drunken sailors...etc...etc...
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
HOLD ON!!
Being a former ‘drunken sailor’ I resemble that remark. If the ‘drunken sailors’ were a protected species, we could claim you were “ANTI-NAVEL [sic].

But like OB says, “I won’t raise taxes”...’they’ don’t have to. Just cut down funding the states, the ‘trickle up tax raises’ just cut US off at the knees.

Heard some ‘expert’ gripe the other day that people were not using credit cards, they were using debit cards.
THIS IS BAD? How- Isn’t that the target, spend within your means?

These friggin pols (BOTH SIDES) preach out of one side of their mouth but gripe when people do what they suggested..
such as cigarettes, booze, lottery, debit cards..etc...

[silverleaf]

States’ revenue is where the actual condition of the economy walks the walk.... and this is proving that the economic advisors and the messiah in DC have NO CLOTHES

[silverleaf]

My town is acting like if they don’t have the libraries open 7 days a week, 10 hours a day, western civilization is dooomed

[chuck_the_tv_out]

libraries have been superceded by the Internet. We used to need libraries. Now we don’t.

But it’s one of the thousands of dependent little tentacles of gub’ment. Couldn’t possibly cut it off could we?

[cripplecreek]

This was from back in March before the new tobacco taxes were imposed and the crap really hit the fan.

Michigan Lottery sales, taxes on cigarettes and casino gambling plummet; Gov. Jennifer Granholm says revenue decline is 'breathtaking'

"The big reason revenues are tanking is that consumers are negative and they're saving their money," Senate Fiscal Agency economist David Zin said Wednesday. "We thought consumers would ratchet up the savings and they've done so even more than we thought."

Also down were tax receipts on specific forms of discretionary spending, according to the agency's new revenue report. Tobacco tax receipts were down 6.7 percent and casino wagering taxes were down 7 percent. Michigan Lottery ticket sales dropped nearly 19 percent. One factor that explains some of the decline from a year ago was that February 2008 provided a 29th day of sales.

[ez]

They wrote this article as if it was bad news that government is being starved down...

It is bad news for those who depend on government for their standard of living.

[tacticalogic]

The States must do something to get the Federal Govt. out of their business.

As more and more of their productive citizen's money goes to federal taxes, to get sent back to the States as "stimulus", or "revenue sharing" grants with all the usual federal strings attached the less autonomy they have. Letting the States go broke is in the best interst of the advocates of big, centralized bureaucracy inside the beltway. Either we destroy them, or they will destroy us.

[silverleaf]

I’m just waiting for the local govt to announce that every nonteaching employee in the school system with the words “assistant” or “deputy” in their job title is gone (starting with those who have both words in their job title) but being put in line for new teaching positions, only

the horror

[GOPJ]

It’s gonna get worse... Thanks for the ping.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“They spent like drunken sailors as the housing bubble pushed property taxes ever higher. Now comes the reckoning.”

Folks, we have a WINNER !!

[meyer]

They now only have 6 people fixing a single pothole instead of the regular 7.

The Ohio Highway Department is trying out a new experimental program, though it's getting strong resistance from the Unions. They've trained several highway workers to actually hold two shovels in the upright position instead of just one. This practice alone could save the state $48 million per year.

[Plumres]

They wrote this article as if it was bad news that government is being starved down...
It is bad news for those who depend on government for their standard of living.
_______________________________________________________

It has been bad out here in the corporate world for years. Your job is never safe. We have weekly lay offs at the bank I work for. It is usually done on Tuesday.

[jedi150]

The State of Oregon is still hiring new employees.