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The Mackinac Center has a plan to help lawmakers do something they think is very difficult: We want them to practice restraint by adopting a Sustainable Michigan Budget target. Under it, they pledge to increase state spending by no more than the rate of inflation plus the growth of the state’s population.
Lawmakers’ lives are easier when they approve as much spending as possible. There are armies of interest groups who depend on the state budget, all seeking more every year.
You might think those who receive taxpayer dollars would argue against each other’s interests. One dollar spent on schools is a dollar that can’t be spent on roads, after all.
But you would be wrong. The recipients of government funding avoid criticizing each other’s collections. They instead look to add more to the treasury to split among themselves.
Look at any proposal to raise taxes and you’ll find that it’s been endorsed by disparate interest groups. Many of them do not stand to benefit directly, but they know they will gain when taxes go up.
This is the trough truce, as I call it.
In the fight over government spending there is a side who benefits from state spending. The other side, which includes the Mackinac Center, recommends restraint.
There are advantages to practicing restraint. Lawmakers can do more when they spend less. It helps them catch up on debts and prepare for an uncertain future. They can let people keep more of what they earn.
Restraint also gives lawmakers something to brag about to their constituents. People don’t want the government to grow out of control. Our Sustainable Michigan Budget recommendation sets a standard to ensure that state government does not grow beyond people’s ability to pay for it.
The sustainable budget isn’t just theory. We developed the formula with Vance Ginn, who previously worked with the Texas Public Policy Foundation to create a budget target for the Lone Star State. Texas lawmakers adopted it. They went along with it because they found political advantage to restraint, and by spending less they found that they could lower property taxes — something voters wanted, too.
Persuading politicians to restrain spending is a challenge, given the power of the trough truce. But there are benefits of restraint and political advantages to be gained if lawmakers adopt a Sustainable Michigan Budget.
