2010 March Budget & Tax News

The March issue of Budget & Tax News describes the dire budget crunch facing the city of San Francisco, grappling with a $522 million budget deficit. The city spends more than the entire Idaho state government.

Also in this issue:

•  Florida lawmakers have approved what’s believed to be the nation’s priciest rail deal. The plan would link several central Florida communities and clear the way for new commuter and high-speed rail systems in the state.

•  The House Financial Services Committee is considering bills that would pave the way for legalized online gambling in the United States.

•  “Smart growth” planning and shifting more automobile travel to public transportation have been longstanding goals of progressive planners and assorted anti-sprawl activists. Those goals may become federal policy under President Barack Obama’s “livability” initiative.

•  “[America] is going to default on its debt,” says renowned economist David Henderson, editor of The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.

•  Washington State officials are ignoring a chance to improve service delivery while cutting the state’s budget deficit: the state’s competitive contracting law. State managers rarely exercise their statutory authority to contract out.