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Wielding the Budget Ax : Part I of a two-part feature of the Boston Globe's Thinking Big section, giving Globe readers an opportunity to balance the budget, based on research conducted by the MBPC.
Sunday, May 18, 2003
Part I -- Options Worksheet
Massachusetts faces a budget deficit that Governor Mitt Romney estimates at $3 billion for the 2004 fiscal year beginning July 1. How this problem is resolved will dramatically affect the future of public education, our health care system, our social safety net, every family that pays taxes, and the future of our economy.
State policymakers are currently struggling to balance the budget. Now it's your turn.
This list of government spending is not exhaustive; there are more than 700 line items in the budget. But these five areas - plus the ''untouchable'' commitments to pensions and debt service - represent 95 percent of state spending. Some of the savings and impacts listed here are estimates, because of ''ripple effects'' elsewhere in the budget that can't be precisely calculated.
The worksheet below shows where your tax dollars are spent, presents cuts and other savings options that policy makers have proposed, and lets you implement these or other ideas to try to close the $3 billion budget gap. Good luck! -- from the May 18, 2003 Boston Globe
Massachusetts faces a budget deficit that Governor Mitt Romney estimates at $3 billion for the 2004 fiscal year beginning July 1. How this problem is resolved will dramatically affect the future of public education, our health care system, our social safety net, every family that pays taxes, and the future of our economy.
State policymakers are currently struggling to balance the budget. Now it's your turn.
This list of government spending is not exhaustive; there are more than 700 line items in the budget. But these five areas - plus the ''untouchable'' commitments to pensions and debt service - represent 95 percent of state spending. Some of the savings and impacts listed here are estimates, because of ''ripple effects'' elsewhere in the budget that can't be precisely calculated.
The worksheet below shows where your tax dollars are spent, presents cuts and other savings options that policy makers have proposed, and lets you implement these or other ideas to try to close the $3 billion budget gap. Good luck! -- from the May 18, 2003 Boston Globe
