State and Local Government Spending Should Be Controlled!

Andrea Neal recently wrote an excellent editorial that appeared in The Indianapolis Star entitled “State Needs to Live Within a Budget.”

We agree with Andrea that not only should there be a local government spending control but that there should also be a control on state government spending.  Governor Mitch Daniels’ plan only calls for a local spending control.  Advance America’s property tax repeal plan calls for a control on both state and local government spending. Here are two key paragraphs from her editorial. “The biggest flaw: While local spending is limited, there’s no similar language capping state spending.  As Indiana shifts away from property taxes, lawmakers must realize that pressure to spend will continue to build at the state level.  A shift in taxation from property taxes to state sales and income taxes would more closely link public school funding to the state’s economy.  Lobbyists will keep asking for more.  And there’s nothing to stop lawmakers from raising the sales tax again to 8 percent or the income tax from 3.4 to 4 percent or higher.  As long as lawmakers are considering spending restraints for local bodies, they should consider state limits too.”

“According to research prompted by the property tax revolts of the 1970s and ‘80s, the most effective tax reforms are those that simultaneously attack both symptom (high taxes) and cause (high spending).”

The best way to protect all citizens in the State of Indiana from runaway government spending at the state and local level is to control both.  That’s what Advance America’s Property Tax Repeal Plan calls for.

More information is available at www.AdvanceAmerica.com.