Alabama Gov. Bob Riley's $1.2 billion tax increase proposal was rejected overwhelmingly by voters last week, leaving the state with few options other than massive spending cuts to close a projected budget deficit of $675 million.
Alabama conservatives called defeat of the governor's plan a mandate for smaller government. The governor, a Republican, said no one and no program would be spared in the coming struggle to balance the budget.
"We're going to open this up." he said. ''We're going to shine a light on every tax dollar that comes into this state. We're going to have the most transparent government that this state has ever seen."
Alabama legislators, recalled for a special session to deal with the crisis, said non-violent prisoners likely will be released from state jails, nursing home residents forced to find alternative care and schoolchildren denied needed textbooks. Tuition subsidies, Medicaid and health insurance for teachers and other state employees are on the chopping block, they added.
But Alabama voters clearly are not in the mood, indeed many are not able to absorb, new levies by local, state and federal governments.
South Carolina has its own budget problems to sort out. The state has a leftover $155 million budget deficit to deal with, not to mention concerns about the current year's revenue projections. Gov. Mark Sanford has spent the summer going over the budgets of the major government agencies with an eye toward possible economies.
Proposals for new taxes have met with little success in the Palmetto State in recent years, and we imagine that the Alabama vote will be a reminder for South Carolina lawmakers during the 2004 election year.
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