December 15, 2014
Yes Toto, we’re back in Kansas and we’re discovering some folks really don’t believe in reporting that provides meaningful information to readers. After all, what will most people make of an article on projected deficits in Kansas that told readers about Governor Brownback’s schedule of tax cuts which are, “projected to cost $7 billion through the end of the 2019 fiscal year?” We are also told that the state faces a shortfall of nearly $280 million in the current fiscal year, which the governor proposes to address by, “cutting more than $70 million in agency spending and transferring more than $200 million into the state general fund from various reserves to plug the gap through the fiscal year ending in June.”
Do you feel informed? In case you were one of the small minority of NYT readers who have no clue how large Kansas’ budget is, the projection for the current fiscal year is roughly $14 billion, which puts the shortfall at 2 percent of projected spending. The $650 million shortfall projected for next year would be more than 4.0 percent of the state’s budget.
The piece also refers to a $8 billion shortfall in the state’s pension funding. This comes to less than 0.3 percent of the state’s projected gross state product over the next three decades, the standard planning period for pension funds. The piece also tells readers about the governor’s plans to make “changes” to the pension fund in order to “create a more sustainable long-term budget.”
These sorts of changes would mean cuts, as in lower pensions or higher employee contributions. It is understandable that the governor and his allies would prefer euphemisms to conceal their agenda. It is not clear why the NYT would share the same motivations.
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