July 10, 2002
Now that the dust has settled on the budget battle, it's time to contemplate where we go from here. The victory over the income tax came at a cost this year. An increase in the sales tax and other taxes proved that this general assembly did not have the intestinal fortitude to actually cut the waste. Hopefully, we'll have better luck with the next one or we'll continue to find ourselves in the same fix.
There simply must be a wholesale reform of our state government. The good ole boy politicians continue to scratch each other's backs at the expense of the taxpayer. A number of steps will have to be taken by the new governor and new leadership in the general assembly in order to alter this historical course toward financial disaster.
• Government Audit. We must have a top-to-bottom accounting of where the money goes. What we'll find will make Ken Lay look like a choirboy but it has to be done. It's imperative that this audit be done by an outside, disinterested party with absolutely no connection to anyone in the state. What they're certain to find are job vacancies that have gone unfilled for years yet are fully funded by the taxpayers. They will find departments with secret funds fueled by overages in tax dollars that are kept completely off the books. They will find brother-in-law patronage that has kept many a political family nest feathered. All of this must end. Departments must follow the law of zero-based budgeting which means each department justifies itself from the ground up each year instead of hurriedly spending all their money at the end of the year and asking for 5 percent more.
• End Sum Sufficient. Sum Sufficient is the practice by the governor and a couple of his cronies of taking tax revenue that is above projections and applying that to various departments as they deem ‘sum sufficient' without permission from the general assembly. This should be outlawed. Most citizens would be outraged to learn that their money was being spent in this manner yet it goes on year after year. The simple way to cure that is to stop this business of projecting tax revenue. We should freeze the budget for one year and allow the tax revenue to surpass the budget. Then you would know exactly how much money you have in hand to spend and you would fashion your budget accordingly. Every year we project and every year we're either over or under projections. It time to end projections and spend money we actually have.
• Reform TennCare. On the last day of our horn-honking protest at the Capitol this year, Brian Lapps, former TennCare director, called into the show. During his time at the helm he showed the Sundquist administration how they could easily save $400 million per year. They were not the least bit interested. You see, TennCare is what has been putting the upward pressure on the income tax. Get rid of the problem and there's no need for the tax. The national average is 86 per 100 poor residents receive Medicaid. In Tennessee, that number is a shocking 151 per 100 poor residents receive TennCare. The simple truth is there are far too many people on it and we will not reform it until we drastically cut the rolls.