Public is of two minds or no mind on budgeting

As usual, the general public, when it comes to solving state and federal budget woes, comes down squarely on the fence. And it hurts.

A Pew Research Center poll conducted this month provides findings similar to ones contained in polling this past fall under the rubric “Impact Nevada.” That polling was done by the Review-Journal, 8NewsNow and Vegas PBS.

“The public thinks the best way for states to deal with their budget problems is through a combination of spending cutbacks and increased state taxes,” Pew researchers said. “About two-thirds (68%) say their state lawmakers should do a combination of cutting major programs and increasing taxes. Far fewer (19%) think that focusing mostly on cutting major programs is the best way to deal with the budget in their state. Only 4% say focusing mostly on increasing taxes is the best approach.

“The public recently expressed similar views when asked about the federal budget deficit. In December, 65% said the best way to reduce the federal budget deficit is through a combination of cutting major government programs and increasing taxes.”

What does the public know?

The Impact Nevada poll found, “In all, 67 percent said they favored taxes or taxes coupled with spending cuts.”

But what does the public know? Maybe we’d be better off listening to the experts, like Michael Boskin is a professor of economics at Stanford University, who says in today’s Wall Street Journal:

“The immense growth of government spending and soaring public deficits and debt are the major sources of systemic economic risk, here and abroad, threatening enormous costs by higher taxes, inflation or default. The problem is not merely public debt. A much higher ratio of taxes to GDP trades a deficit problem for sluggish growth. In recent decades, the large advanced economies with the highest taxes have grown most slowly. And the high-tax economies did not have smaller budget deficits. Rather, higher taxes merely led to higher spending.

“Elected officials too often ignore long-run costs to achieve short-run benefits. But government policies can neither revoke the laws of arithmetic nor circumvent the laws of economics. The time to start reducing spending is now.”

Meanwhile, here are some more graphics from Pew and Impact Nevada to chew on: