下面是小编为大家整理的2020年美国州长财政政策报告,供大家参考。
oing
into
2020,
the
U nited
St ates
was
in its
11th
year
of
economic
expansion
and state
go v ernments
were
enjo ying
robust rev enue
and
spending
gro wth.
Then CO VID-19
hit
and
triggered
a
deep
reces -
sion.
St ate
go v ernments
hav e
seen
their
projected
rev enues decline
and
hav e
st ar ted
trimming
spending
to
k eep
their 2021
budgets
balanced.
Some
st ates
had
accumulated
large rain y
day
funds
and
were
prepared
for
the
do wnturn,
but other
st ates
hav e
been
o v er spending,
accumulating
debt, and
saving
little
for
the
rain y
day
that
has
no w
arriv ed.
That
is
the
backdrop
to
this
year’s
15th
biennial
ftscal repor t
card
on
the
go v ernor s,
which
ex amines
state
budget actions
since
2018.
It
uses
st atistical
data
to
grade
the
go v - ernors
on
their
t ax
and
spending
records—go v ernors
who hav e
restrained
t ax es
and
spending
receiv e
higher
grades, while
those
who
hav e
subst antially
increased
t ax es
and spending
receiv e
lo wer
grades.
F our
go v ernors
were
a warded
an
A
on
this
repor t : Chris
Sununu
of
N ew
Ham pshire,
Kim
Re ynolds
of
Io wa,
P ete
Rick etts
of
N ebrask a,
and
Mark
Gordon
of
W yoming. Sev en
go v ernors
were
a warded
an
F:
Ralph
N or tham of
Virginia,
Andrew
Cuomo
of
N ew
Y ork ,
Gretchen Whitmer
of
Michigan,
Phil
Murph y
of
N ew
Jer se y ,
J.
B. Pritzk er
of
Illinois,
K ate
Bro wn
of
Oregon,
and
Jay
Inslee of
W ashington.
This
repor t
ex amines
the
widely
var ying
t ax
and spending
choices
that
go v ernors
hav e
made
in
recent year s.
It
discusses
way s
that
st ates
can
respond
to
today’s budget
challenges,
including
t apping
rev enues
from marijuana
legalization
and
cutting
costs
by
prohibiting public-sector
collectiv e
bargaining.
The
repor t
also
de - scribes
ho w
st ates
can
prepare
for
future
do wnturns
by building
large
rain y
day
funds
and
creating
st able
and pro-gro wth
t ax
bases.
With
the
2020
health
crisis
and
recession,
go v ernors across
the
nation
are
facing
tough
ftscal
choices.
Ho wev er , the
need
for
restraint
and
reco v er y
pro vides
an
oppor tu - nity
for
go v ernors
to
prune
lo w -value
spending
from
state budgets
and
to
pur sue
growth-enhancing
t ax
reforms.
Chris
Edwards
is
director of
tax
policy studies
at
the Cato
Institute
a nd editor
of
www .DownsizingGovernment. org .
David
K emp
is
a
re - search
associate
at
the Cato
Institute .
o v ernors
play
a
k ey
role
in
state
ftscal policy .
The y
propose
budgets,
recom - mend
t ax
changes,
and
sign
or
v eto
t ax and
spending
bills.
When
the
econom y
is growing,
go v ernors
can
use
rising
reve -
nues
to
expand
programs
or
the y
can
return
extra
rev enues to
the
public
through
t ax
cuts.
When
the
econom y
is
st ag - nant
and
budget
deftcits
appear ,
go v ernors
can
respond
by raising
t ax es
or
trimming
spending.
This
repor t
grades
go v ernors
on
their
ftscal
policies from
a
limited-go v ernment
per spectiv e.
Go v ernors
receiv - ing
an
A are
those
who
hav e
cut
t ax es
and
spending
the most,
whereas
go v ernors
receiving
an
F hav e
raised
t ax es and
spending
the
most.
The
grading
mechanism
is
based on
sev en
variables:
two
spending
variables,
one
rev enue variable,
and
four
t ax-rate
variables.
Cato
has
used
the same
methodology
on
its
ftscal
repor t
cards
since
2008.
The
results
are
dat a-driv en.
The y
account
for
t ax
and spending
actions
that
af fect
short-term
budgets
in
the st ates.
Ho wev er ,
the y
do
not
account
for
longer-term
or structural
changes
that
go v ernors
may
mak e,
such
as
re - forms
to
state
pension
plans.
Thus,
the
results
pro vide
one measure
of
ho w
ftscally
conser vativ e
each
go v ernor
is,
but the y
do
not
reflect
all
the
ftscal
actions
that
go v ernors
mak e. T ax
and
spending
data
for
the
repor t
come
from the
N ational
Association
of
St ate
Budget
Of ftcer s,
the
N ational
Conference
of
St ate
Legislatures,
the
T ax F oundation,
the
budget
agencies
of
each
st ate,
and
man y new s
ar ticles.
The
data
co v er
the
period
Januar y
2018
to A ugust
2020,
which
was
mainly
a
period
of
strong
budget expansion
before
the
recession
began. 1
The
repor t
rates 47
go v ernor s.
It
ex cludes
the
go v ernors
of
Kentucky
and Mississippi
because
the y
hav e
been
in
of ftce
only
a
brief time,
and
it
ex cludes
the
go v ernor
of
Alask a
because
of peculiarities
in
that
st ate’s
budget.
The
next
section
discusses
the
highest-scoring
go v er - nor s
and
some
dif ferences
between
the
two
political
par - ties.
Af ter
that,
the
repor t
ex amines
ftscal
trends
in
the st ates,
including
spending
gro wth
rates
and
new
sources of
rev enue
that
st ates
are
t apping.
Subsequent
sections
look
at
way s
that
st ates
can
re - duce
budget
gaps
during
the
current
do wnturn
and
better prepare
for
future
do wnturns.
St ates
can
legalize
and
t ax marijuana
to
raise
rev enues.
St ates
can
end
public-sector collectiv e
bargaining
to
reduce
costs.
St ates
can
begin building
large
rain y
day
funds
when
the
econom y
returns to
gro wth.
And
st ates
can
reform
their
t ax
codes
to
create st able
rev enue
bases
less
susceptible
to
declines
during recessions.
Appendix
A discusses
the
methodology
used
to
grade the
go v ernor s.
Appendix
B
pro vides
summaries
of
the
fts - cal
records
of
the
47
go v ernors
included
in
the
repor t.
T
Main R esults
able
1
presents
the
o v erall
grades
for
the go v ernor s.
Scores
ranging
from
0
to
100 were
calculated
for
each
go v ernor
on
the basis
of
sev en
t ax
and
spending
variables.
Scores
closer
to
100
indicate
go v ernors who
fav ored
smaller-go v ernment
policies.
The
numerical scores
were
con v er ted
to
the
letter
grades
A to
F .
The
following
four
go v ernors
receiv ed
grades
of
A:
y
Cftris
Sununu
has
led
N ew
Ham pshire
as
go v ernor since
2017
af ter
a
career
as
an
engineer
and
busi - ness
o wner .
Sununu
has
defended
N ew
Ham pshire’s st atus
as
a
lo w-t ax
state
and
k ept
general
funding spending
close
to
flat
in
recent
year s.
While
neigh - boring
Massachusetts
im posed
a
costly
payroll
t ax
to fund
a
new
paid
leav e
program,
Sununu
has
twice v etoed
such
a
plan
in
his
st ate.
He
said
a
payroll
t ax is
“an
ef fectiv e
income
t ax,”
which
w ould
“destro y the
N ew
Ham pshire
advant age.” 2
Sununu
also
cut the
rates
of
the
st ate’s
two
main
business
t ax es
and defended
the
cuts
from
legislativ e
ef for ts
to
undo
them.
The
go v ernor
is
proud
that
N ew
Ham pshire is
top-rated
on
economic
freedom
and
has
w ork ed hard
to
k eep
it
that
way. 3
y
Kim
R eynolds
was
a
state
senator
and
lieutenant
go v ernor
of
Io wa
before
assuming
of ftce
as
go v ernor in
2017 .
She
has
translated
her
stated
beliefs
in
limit - ed
go v ernment
and
per sonal
responsibility
into
fairly lean
state
budgeting
and
the
pur suit
of
t ax
reform. She
signed
into
la w
a
major
reform
in
2018
that
cut cor porate
and
individual
income
t ax
rates,
broadened online
sales
t ax
collections,
and
reduced
t ax es
o v erall by
more
than
$300
million
a
year .
Re ynolds
proposed fur ther
t ax-rate
cuts
in
2020,
but
the
recession
and health
crisis
hav e
put
those
reforms
on
hold.
y
Pete
Ric ft etts
is
an
entrepreneur
and
former
cor po -
rate
ex ecutiv e.
Since
t aking
of ftce
as
N ebrask a
go v - ernor
in
2015,
he
has
pur sued
income
t ax
reforms, fended
off
t ax-increase
proposals,
and
held
general fund
spending
to
2.8
percent
annual
av erage
gro wth. Rick etts
signed
into
la w
an
income
t ax
cut
in
2018
that will
sav e
N ebrask ans
more
than
$250
million
a
year .
Fiscal
P olicy
R eport
Card
on
America ’ s
Governors
2020
He
has
proposed
fur ther
reforms
to
cut
individual and
cor porate
income
t ax
rates
and
signed
into
la w property
t ax
relief
legislation
in
2020.
y
Mar ft
Gordon
experienced
the
boom-bust
pat -
tern
of
W yoming
ftnances
as
state
treasurer ,
and
he
no w
manages
the
state
budget
as
go v ernor
since 2019.
Ev en
before
the
nation wide
recession,
Gordon began
trimming
state
spending
as
rev enues
in
the energy-dependent
state
fell.
He
has
not
suppor t - ed
ef for ts
in
the
legislature
to
im pose
a
cor porate
Main
R esults
income
t ax,
which
w ould
undermine
W yoming’s ability
to
rebuild
its
econom y
by
attracting
people and
businesses
as
a
hav en
free
from
income
t ax ation.
All
the
go v ernors
receiving
a
grade
of
A in
this
year’s repor t
are
R epublicans,
and
all
the
go v ernors
...