State Treasurer Ken Miller Releases Economic Report
State Treasurer Ken Miller released the state's latest revenue numbers, along with a pretty harsh commentary on the effort state lawmakers are making to improve those numbers.
In his most recent Economic Report, Miller wrote that a newer lawmaker recently told him about a warning he'd been given by a veteran legislator; not to vote for any new revenue measures if he ever wanted to run for Congress.
"For too long, politicians have been more concerned with the next election rather than the next generation. They repeat tired rhetoric about reining in waste...while ignoring the failure to adequately provide core services or make the spending cuts they say are necessary," Miller told News 9.
And, considering the latest revenue numbers, more involuntary cuts may be needed. General revenue fund collections for February were up slightly over last year; $759M this this year compared to $758M last year. But for the entire fiscal year, collections remain down $3.1 billion this year versus $3.2 billion last year.
Miller says it's time for lawmakers to ask the hard questions.
"Is it unreasonable for the fuel tax to be set at the regional average or to increase cigarette taxes to deter teen smoking? Should our antiquated tax code reflect a modern economy and at least tax the retail services as do our neighboring states?"
The bottom line, Miller says, is that actions speak louder than words and it's time for lawmakers to put their constituents above their personal aspirations.
