Can You Balance The State Budget?
Try With This Interactive Web Page
Over the past few weeks hundreds of advocates have been flooding the state capitol urging legislators not to cut the budgets of the programs they care about. However, the Governor and the legislators are facing the following stark realities:
- State government is facing a long period in which the state?s revenue is likely to be considerably lower than its currently planned expenses.
This has led most experts to believe the state is facing a budget deficit of over $26 billion between now and June 30 2012.
- The Republicans appear solidly opposed to approving any tax increases, and at least some of their votes would be needed to approve any such increases. So the chances of balancing the budget with tax increases appear to be slim.
- The Governor has proposed continuing some taxes at the higher level established in 2009. He predicts those continued tax levels would plug about half the deficit. However, again, extending those tax levels would require support from at least some Republican legislators. And even if that happened, the tax level extensions would have to be approved by the voters. That approval is far from certain.
So, creating a budget that is both responsible and balanced is really hard. The Sacramento Bee has created an interactive tool that you can try out yourself. It allows you to select among various budget cutting and revenue raising ideas and then tells you how close you get to producing a balance state budget.
To try your luck at it, click on the following link: Balance The State Budget
