PLANNING AMENDMENT ON BALLOT by Victoria Langley
October 27th, 2006 by flanewsVoters are being asked to decide this election whether Florida needs a new legislative task force to plan out the future use of your tax dollars.� Jeb Bush says Amendment 1 would put an important long-range outlook for state spending into Florida�s constitution.� But even supporters have some concerns about whether we really need another task force.Jeb Bush won�t be in office next spring when lawmakers craft what will likely be about an 80-billion dollar state budget.� But he�s a big supporter of a proposed Constitutional Amendment to limit the amount of one-time money the legislature can use for ongoing state costs.
�The problem with state governments across the country is they use non-recurring money to spend on recurring obligations,� Bush said.� �When the non-recurring money goes away, they say oh, we need to raise taxes.� This puts a limit on that availability.�
If Amendment 1 passes, lawmakers could only use up to 3 percent of one-time money for ongoing expenses.� They�d have to take a vote if they wanted to raise that limit.
Dominic Calabro heads the fiscally-conservative watchdog group TaxWatch.� He says the 3-percent limit doesn�t go far enough.
�We think you should use zero percent of one-time, non-recurring revenue for recurring expenses,� Calabro said.� �Otherwise, it�s fiscal mischief.��
The Amendment would also create a Government efficiency task force to develop a long-range financial plan for the state.� Opponents argue the amendment really isn�t necessary as long as lawmakers do their job.
Lawmakers voted to put Amendment 1 on the ballot back in 2004, saying the state needs to do a better job of future financial planning.� If Amendment 1 doesn�t pass, current budget laws that were originally proposed by the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission and approved by voters in 1992 will remain in place.�
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