BALANCE BUDGETS, CUT TAXES

The National Conference of State Legislatures recently held its annual conference in St. Louis. One report that came out of this meeting of lawmakers from every state was that state treasuries are healthy from coast to coast. No state is currently in deficit, and 23 states ended the year with surpluses of greater than 5 percent of state revenue. "The states are in a generally fine fiscal condition," said NCSL president James Lack, a state senator from New York.

Interestingly, Missouri was one of only two states that reported rising taxes this year. The outstandingly sound fiscal condition of state budgets leads to at least tow observations. First, it is another argument for a balanced-budget amendment at the federal level. Nearly all states have constitutional provisions mandating balanced state books each year. Second, overflowing state treasuries are yet another argument for tax cuts in states, such as Missouri, that haven't yet managed to return to hard-pressed taxpayers some of their hard-earned income.