Action Update - Issue 73 :: June 21, 2006
Whose Bottom Line
Is It Anyway?
by Byron Schlomach, PhD
Texas Public Policy Foundation
More than thirty years ago a U.S. senator asked how much the president knew and when he knew it. The senator knew there was a bottom-line answer, whether he got it or not. It was, after all, a simple question.
Ask a similarly simple question about the budget of Texas (or that of just about any government for that matter) and you are no more likely to get a simple, bottom-line answer than did that senator.
With relative ease and simplicity any taxpayer should be able to find the answers to some pretty basic questions regarding what government is doing with his or her money.
How much money has been, or will be, spent? What has or will it be spent on? Who is spending it? What is it accomplishing?
The current Texas state budget runs almost 900 pages and just a quarter inch shy of two inches thick. It documents the almost $140 billion appropriated for fiscal years 2006 and 2007, of state, federal and some local (from school districts) funds.
Much of the volume of the state budget is made up of “riders,” special, detailed instructions the legislature gives to the 188 separate agencies, including universities, to which these funds are distributed.
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Hear Dr. Schlomach discuss the budget reforms needed in this PolicyCast
Reducing the Number of Uninsured
By Nina Owcharenko
Although millions of Americans lack health insurance at some point in the year, the uninsured are a symptom of a larger health care problem. Many Americans fall through the cracks of the current, patchwork health care system, leaving the taxpayers to pick up the tab. Furthermore, while billions of dollars in tax breaks exist for health insurance, these breaks are badly targeted. To create an alternative for those who do not fit into today’s system, efforts should be focused on establishing a more efficient and effective health care system that is based on individual choice and market competition.
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INFORMATION :
Janelle Shepard, Executive Director
Texans for Texas, Inc., 815-A Brazos St #384, Austin, TX 78701-9996.
© 2004 Texans For Texas, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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