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Happy (fiscal) New Year!
Photo by bjornmeansbear/flickr.com
On July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year for New Mexico, taxes on cigarettes and most goods and services went up. These increases are expected to generate $160 million a year in revenue to help cover the state’s budget deficit ($600 million in last year’s budget) and prevent more furloughs, layoffs and deeper cuts in service. The state has already trimmed $700 million of spending in the last two years.
The original package of tax increases also included the now-infamous tax on certain foods considered unhealthy like white bread, candy, soda and – I know – flour tortillas. Governor Richardson vetoed it, leaving a $68 million hole in the state’s budget. The reaction to these tax increases will surely be contradictory and filled with heated rhetoric from both sides.
We, the people, have spoken: Balance the budget but don’t cut services – or raise taxes
Although not specific to New Mexico, these results from a recent Pew Research Center poll underscore the impossible situation that we’ve put ourselves and our policymakers in with regards to balancing state budgets. Basically, we want them to get rid of the deficit without raising taxes or cutting spending.
The study found that although 58 percent of respondents believe states should balance their budgets without additional support from the federal government, there is no clear consensus about how that should be done. There’s little public support for spending cuts:
- 50 percent oppose cuts in funding for transportation.
- 65 percent oppose cuts in health services.
- 71 percent oppose cuts for police, fire and other public safety programs.
- 73 percent oppose cuts in funding for K-12 public schools.
With such little support for cutting spending, I would guess the public supports raising taxes. Nope. 58 percent of respondents opposed raising taxes.
With the country so divided about how to handle our troubled economy, what are policymakers to do?
We need our leaders to lead.
It’s clear that the public doesn’t know what it wants and knows even less how to get there. That’s where leaders come in. It’s their job to ignore the contradictions in studies like these and move forward with the necessary steps to ensure our long-term fiscal safety.
But no one wants responsibility
In Doña Ana County, for example, county commissioners are considering proposing a modest tax increase (the most expensive of these increases would add only about 25 cents for every 100 dollars spent) to prevent layoffs and failure in services. Fair enough. If they believe this is what’s necessary, then they should increase the tax.
Instead they are considering putting the question to the voters. Bad idea. As the above poll indicates, the public is not sure what they want or how to get it. In fact, most of the public is not qualified to know what the right course is nor are they far-sighted enough to make the right decisions.
Again, that’s why we elect leaders… to lead. That’s what our commissioners need to do. If a tax increase is necessary, then make it happen. Be a leader by making the tough decision and then effectively articulating to the public why the policy was necessary. Be a leader by accepting the consequences of doing what is in the best long-term interest of your community.
Putting this question to the voters is only a way for our leaders to avoid responsibility for taking the necessary steps – in this case, raising taxes. We live in a republic, not a radical democracy, so that our public policy is not subject only to the whims of the mob.
The public’s burden
The problem for the commissioners (and everyone else, for that matter) is that so little of the public is listening. Furthermore, many of those who are listening are not persuadable. Our polarized, exaggerated national debate (and our tendency toward confirmation bias) make it nearly impossible for a meaningful public dialogue to occur.
It’s even worse on the local level where it seems people pay more attention to the Sound-Off section of the Las Cruces Sun-News than the reporting.
So, if we want true leaders, we have to be good, engaged citizens. This involves commitment to the greater good and careful attention to the local issues that affect our communities. Otherwise, how can we assess our leaders’ performance fairly? If we can’t guarantee our leaders that we will be fair with them, how can we expect them to be straightforward with us?
Nick Voges is the blogger behind NMPolitics.net’s Zeitgeist. E-mail him at nick@nmpolitics.net.
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Good, again, Nick -
Two examples of leaders’ work in our form of government -
As you point out, we are a republic – where we elect leaders to make decisions. Not a true democracy where all the people weigh in on every decision. That buys us at least two things –
We get leaders to put lots of time on the issues, with expert support – time most of us just don’t have; and
We get complex issues considered in all their complexity, not just “the part I care about”, as distinct from “the part you care about”. If we don’t take care, we get the legislative equivalents of a hybrid car having a great big battery and no gas tank, and a gas motor rather than an electric one.
But it only works if leaders lead.
From time to time we grumble about the Electoral College, which is in between the popular vote and the election of our president. It’s there for a real good reason – the Founding Fathers did not trust the voters to decide on their own, directly, who should be president. The election was set up to elect some hopefully smart folks to go represent the voters and work out the best overall choice of president. It has been useful – maybe not so much, now, but it’s a line of thinking.
On the popular foot – as anyone from California knows, around election time the work Proposition looms large. initiatives and referendums are measures put directly to the people. Not a bad idea, but they have become overworked to the point of silliness. And lately the state budget has threatened to go that way, not because that’s a good way to do a state budget, but because the legislature was unable to act. Leaders not leading.
Our country’s government – federal, state, and local (except for the town meetings in New England, perhaps) – were established on the principle that all the people would elect a few from among themselves to be their leaders. The assumption, then, was that those so elected would take up the challenge and lead. It ain’t a perfect system, and it has had its share of problems over the years – all different types and times – but we seem to have the greatest need for leadership now, and the least effective leaders – or maybe the system won’t let the leaders act effectively. Whatever it is, we gotta get unstuck and get going.
Nick’s right – Leaders gotta lead, but we all are part of the process, and we all have to do our part.
Very well stated and developed positions here. The fact that our elected polticians, are, well, politicians, is something we tend to forget often. Some tend to hold them up as superhuman, super smart, and objects of celebrity worship (just check some of their Facebook pages), when the truth is much more mundane and ordinary. A statesman would do what is right and make hard choices regardless of political fallout and critiques by the talking heads, either on Fox or the progressive version, MSNBC. Those are the leaders of which you speak. We have far too few who will come down hard on the popular views expressed in these polls. My solutions would be both cutting spending and raising some taxes. That would not be popular and I would expect to be voted out quickly.
The observation about confirmation bias and the polarized dialogue we have in America is great, and it is most the most destructive thing we have today in America. I recently experienced it by trying to blog on a highly rated (by the Huffington Post, so I should have known) blog where politics, science, etc. were featured. I found it curious all the comments to blog entries were fully supportive of the blog author. So, since many were extremely biased from the progressive side, I attempted to post alternate views, lnks, data, etc. My posts were quickly removed and I was castigated for “stalking” and “irrational” behaviour. So, it was obvious this blog allowed nothing in except the echo chamber rhetoric of one side. If we are to ever get to honest and complete solutions to our problems we have to be able to debate and discuss issues without this confirmation bias. Congress has this in spades, and it is one reason nothing is getting done. This has to be fixed first or deficits, spending, taxes, etc. will just not be done properly and effectively and the country will continue to sink into the abyss.
Thanks for that clarification, Commissioner Krahling!
I agree with the general sentiment of this article. However, it would be a shame if readers were left with the impression that the Dona Ana County Commission had the power to raise GRT without a vote from the public. The only way to raise existing GRT options is to have the public vote to do so.
The commission has taken steps to raise revenues where possible. For instance, today we start collecting fees at our solid waste transfer stations. This move, while unpopular, was necessary considering the budget shortfall and the $1.8 million we were spending per year on collecting trash for free.