The Budget: Of Pork and Taxes

Happiness is warm pork.

The budget is a mess.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that it's "full of surprises."

No.

It's full of new spending, increased fees, and new taxes.

I don't think of those as "surprises."

I think of those as broken promises, the building blocks of Wisconsin's tax hell.

In spite of sticking it to Wisconsin taxpayers, there's still an enormous budget shortfall -- $892 million.

The brokers seeking to solve the state's budget problems have found one major point of agreement — push many of them into the next budget.

The 2007-09 budget agreement approved by a legislative committee Monday would leave a potential shortfall of $892 million in the 2009-11 budget, according to the Legislature's budget office. The budget, which is 114 days late as of this morning, is expected to be voted on and approved today by the full Legislature.

The budget compromise announced late Friday by Gov. Jim Doyle and legislative leaders would add $42 million to the shortfall that would have been left by the budget drafted by Assembly Republicans. It increases the shortfall in the proposal put forward in February by Doyle, a Democrat, by $250 million.

"We are continuing credit-card budgeting," Sen. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, said. "We are facing a staggering fiscal crisis that may develop before we ever get to the (next) budget."

Doyle is such a liar.

"Going forward, my mind will be open to every solution -- except one. We should not -- we must not -- and I will not -- raise taxes."

Liar.

One of the many lies that Jim Doyle spouted during his 2006 campaign was that he balanced Wisconsin's budget.

That was supposedly THE accomplishment of his term. He balanced the budget.

Again and again and again, he cited balancing the budget as one of his shining achievements, a highpoint for him as governor.

Doyle bragged about his skill and leadership in pulling Wisconsin out of a deficit and putting the state back in the black.

Of course, that's an absolute crock. It was a crock then and it's a crock now.