Realistic budgeting

While Missouri legislators and the governor have struggled in the past two years to make revenue stretch far enough to cover all the demands for spending, this is not the first time soft state revenue has required imaginative budgeting.

Perhaps it is the contrast with high-revenue years of the 1990s that make the past two years seem so bleak.

During much of the 1990s, state revenue was growing so fast that limits established by the Hancock Amendment were breached, and Missouri's taxpayers received refund checks. Some state taxes were lowered or eliminated to head off the need for more refunds.

The slowdown in revenue growth while spending demands continued unabated produced what we now call a budget crisis. Estimates for the next fiscal year indicate there will be another sizable gap between revenue and spending requests, even though no one really knows for sure what impact the nation's economic rebound will have.

Until a few years ago, anticipated revenue needs could be filled by legislative action.

Legislators approved increases in state fuel taxes, for example, that generated more money for transportation needs.

And legislators approved a whopping tax increase to pay for the huge boost in state spending on public education as a result of 1993's Outstanding Schools Act.

But two major changes have occurred in the meantime.

One is the shift in control of both chambers of the Missouri Legislature. Republicans are adamant about holding the line on major tax increases to pay for the exorbitant growth in state expenses.

And voters approved a constitutional amendment that limits the legislature's authority to raise taxes. As a result, a statewide vote is needed for any major tax plan.

Another new twist is Gov. Bob Holden's notion of proposing state budgets that rely on tax increases yet to be put before voters for approval.

When Holden delivers his State of the State address and budget message Wednesday, he is likely to take another crack at budgeting that depends on voters who are willing to create more tax burden for themselves.

This process is fiscally unsound. Last year, some legislators unsuccessfully attempted to put an end to cart-before-the-horse budgets. This year state Sen. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau has introduced a joint resolution that would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment barring budgets whose revenue would come from future tax votes.

Somehow the message must be clear: Don't commit to spending what you don't have.