Conservatively Speaking
State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents parts of four counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Walworth. Her Senate District 28 includes New Berlin, Franklin, Greendale, Hales Corners, Muskego, Waterford, Big Bend, the town of Vernon and parts of Greenfield, East Troy, and Mukwonago. Senator Lazich has been in the Legislature for more than a decade. She considers herself a tireless crusader for lower taxes, reduced spending and smaller government.
11 states are in recovery from recession
Wisconsin
According to economic forecasting firm, Moody’s Economy.com, the 11 states are
Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota along with Washington, D.C.
Moody’s based its findings on the states’ employment rates, home prices, residential construction and manufacturing production figures.
Factors helping the eleven states climb out of the recession include relatively stable housing prices, energy production revenues, low business costs, connecting ports to foreign markets, health care centers, military installations, growing medical and biotech research industries, and agriculture prices that have remained high.
However, I can’t help but notice that many of the states now in recovery have low state-local tax burdens.
According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation in Washington D.C., here are the national rankings for each of the 11 states and the District of Columbia for state-local tax burdens with a high number being a higher tax burden (#1 is the worst state-local tax burden).
I
One could argue that the tax structure in most of the states contributed to their quicker recovery. Elsewhere, most states will lag in their economic rebound.
As I have predicted in previous blogs, Stateline reports, “Most states have dumped billions of federal stimulus dollars into shoring up gaping shortfalls in their 2009 and 2010 budgets, but their recovery could backslide when almost all of the federal money is gone at the end of 2010. Since it takes several years for state budgets to recover from a downturn, it’s likely that states will be grappling with shortfalls even as the overall economy recovers.”
You can read the Stateline report here.
This site uses Facebook comments to make it easier for you to contribute. If you see a comment you would like to flag for spam or abuse, click the "x" in the upper right of it. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use.