Krusin' the Capitol
By Nebraska State Senator Lowen Kruse
2003
Fall Bonus
September 29, 2003
Hi to all--
This is my promised fall bonus. In fact, two of them. Following is a
summary of an article I did for the North Omaha Commercial Club, centering in on
four reasons our taxes go up. I have shared most of that previously, but this
puts it together.
A later email will forward an item from George Carlin. Yeah, really. He was
eloquent with trash words and thoughts, to pull us down, but even more
eloquent with thoughts that help us reflect on who we are and can be. Thanks, one
of you, for the forward.
We are knee deep in interim studying. Literally. That is the height of the
stack of must-read that I have on my office floor. The most interesting so
far is the child and family abuse problem and what to do about it, prescription
drug costs and what to do about it, whether to close the Lincoln Correctional
Center, juvenile justice practices, tax policies of course, and the practices
and education of immigrant workers.
Went to a big rally on the last item. We really need and want immigrants to
come and do our nasty low-pay jobs, and we love to collect taxes from them for
that (they cannot file for a refund), but our highly organized can-do society
has not figured out how to do this in a straight forward way that protects
them and us. Amazing.
Cheers
Lowen
Why Taxes Go Up
By Senator Lowen Kruse
Our taxes have been going up. They will continue to do so. I am not talking
about levies or rates, as they can vary or seem stable. Nor am I writing
about tax shift, for centuries a favorite of political decision makers, in which
one tax goes down and another goes up.
I am talking about the bottom line: the total we actually pay in local and
state taxes, fees, licenses – in all forms -- for roads, schools and
universities, prisons, agencies, disabled, health services, and public assistance. So
sit down, take a deep breath and let’s have some plain thought about taxes.
I will focus on the state, because that is where I work. There are four
items which have caused the major tax increases of the past ten years. None are
operating funds, where some persons naturally assume there was expansion in
good times. Our increase in basic governing was about 2 1/2% per year, below the
inflation rate. Our total increase in budget was nearly 6% per year. (We
have cut everywhere and will do more by changing statutes.)
However, no one has come up with a way to cap a single one of the four budget
busters. Public attitude is a major part of the reason each is so costly.
Together, we could clearly reduce these costs. We have strong feelings about
each of these four items. I am not talking feelings or morals. Just dollars.
1. Drug use is the major reason public costs go up. As a society we have
yet to say, "We don’t do drugs." That would make a huge difference in costs.
A meth lab is discovered. Police put in overtime to track it, do
surveillance – and we bring a team in from Kansas City to take it apart. That’s just
the beginning of cost. We lodge the offenders in prison for $25,000 per year,
and we lost the income and sales tax which a productive citizen pays.
Remember, I am just talking dollars.
It gets worse. Half of drug users have a mental health problem. A child
with mild depression, untreated, will usually "self-medicate" – which is finding
and using a drug to stop the pain. Then this youth gets hooked, drops out of
school, goes to Kearney for $40,000 a year, and yes, pays no taxes as a
productive citizen.
We are doing all sorts of things to cut those costs. If the depressed child
is low income, we can provide medical care through Medicaid and save a ton of
money down the road. If the adult user is "only" an addict, which half of
them are, we can provide treatment for $5,000, through diversion, in place of
$50,000 for two years in the pen.
2. Education is complicated, but the major recent increase is in Special
Education. A little secret 40 years ago was that retarded children are citizens,
guaranteed instruction in our state constitution. It took us until 1990 to
accept that "every person" includes the disabled, the mentally ill, the trouble
makers, those who do not speak English – and on.
The good news is we did a major fix the last ten years. Special Ed is very
expensive, and we are still learning, but the major increase has been taken.
What is left is teachers’ salaries. We rank 44th in the nation. Yes, we can
and will do efficiencies, but does anyone claim we will be cutting salaries,
which are 85% of school budgets?
The public piece on education is parental involvement. Twenty students in a
class is a challenge, but if two of them are trouble makers, whose parents
excuse them and avoid teacher contact, that class production is cut way down.
The two take more effort than the twenty. Which forces smaller class size and
drives cost up.
3. Medicaid costs go up mainly because we have a 5% annual increase in the
number of our low income elderly residents in nursing homes. Does anyone think
we can cut rates by 5% every year? That just shifts cost to the private pay,
which is already carrying too much of the load. Nationally, we have cut
Medicaid costs from 13% two years ago to 4% this coming year. But we cannot hold
it to that with a 5% increase in numbers each year.
The public simply has to get over the thought that nursing home care is some
kind of right. Most citizens should get long term care insurance or prepare
in other ways. We could give a tax deduction for premiums and save the state a
bundle of money.
4. Prisons are part of #1, but there is more. This past year, while we were
cutting everything in sight, corrections went up 12%! We are chopping
children off of medical help and sending it to prisons. Total frustration.
The public can help by being more supportive of parole. We are not thinking
about releasing violent offenders, or dangerous persons. That reaction is
ridiculous. We are talking about offenders who will be released in six months.
Release them early and give them some supervision. Don’t dump them on the
street as they jam out, with no place to go. We win two ways: save real dollars
and give each offender a counselor to help make the transition.
When we talk taxes, any politician who promises to reduce taxes overall is a
liar or a fool. However, serious minded planners can effect tremendous
savings over the present way of doing things. We are working hard on long range
solutions. The road will not be easy, but costs must be reduced.
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