Sometimes I just don't get it.
The Governor is getting ready to unveil his budget for the next fiscal year.
42 billion dollars.
It calls for a three percent growth in revenues (taxes).
Now state officials at the end of the fiscal year last year basically did cartwheels celebrating the fact that the Commonwealth finished the fiscal year with a billion dollars in surplus revenue.
Translation - we got taxes too much and the state is keeping our money.
Now it is important to have surplus revenues.
Massachusetts continues to sock monies away at a pretty good pace.
That money to be used to stave off an unexpected downturn.But that is our money.
Can we have a say in what you use it for?
The answer is no sadly.
The Governor is out with a rather energetic proposal that is designed to increase the infrastructure as it relates to the the environment.
He plans to pay for that with a small tax increase to real estate filing taxes.
He expects to be able to be able to spend from that source somewhere in the neighborhood of 140 million dollars for such upgrades.
And although important, why is it that all these great things need to be dropped on us and paid for by an increase in our taxes?
Is there no other place?
People have only so much money to throw around these days.
The great economy that everyone is talking about is balanced on the success of the future.
And, when a state places too many great ideas on the table and too many ways to use our money to pay for them what we will have is an exit from the state to a warmer and less expensive environment.
I am not sure there is an answer. Is there?
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)