PA Auditor General Offers Ways to Balance Budget - Without Tax Hike
Add one more Democrat to the list of those who don't think we should raise the state income tax - Auditor General Jack Wagner has release a series of ideas for balancing the Pennsylvania state budget without hiking taxes. His proposals aren't as good as ours, and don't cut much of the wasteful spending we identified, but he does offer some good ideas:
- Cut down on Medicaid fraud: $320 million
- Crack down on tax evaders (one tool for doing this might be appointing them to the cabinet): $160 million
- Eliminate or reduce tax credits for special interests: $100 million
- Offer early retirement incentive for state employees: $50 million
3 comments:
NB: OMG. Appoint them to the Cabinet. ROFLMAO.
NB. The Medicaid savings are actually double for us as taxpayers because the cited figure is for the state share of the program. The Feds (us) actually chip in a bit more than the state.
Although its refreshing to hear a Democrat give some attention to fiscal solvency in a way that doesn't start and end with new or increased taxes, the early retirement incentive won't work.
As it stands now, staffing is difficult, because pay ranges are generally lower than in the private sector.
RN's - who can generally make $60,000 within a few years in the private sector, start at $45,000 in state employment and those positions are often in state prisons. Similarly, computer programmers, accountants and other professions generally make less than in the private sector.
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