Poof Goes the Structural Deficit
The promising new Memphis weblog Half-Bakered takes apart the Memphis Commercial-Appeal's dismal "reporting" on recent moves by Fitch, Moody's and Standard & Poor's on Tennessee's credit rating, in this posting. It seems the pros don't think Tennessee has a "structural deficit" after all, and that the current sales tax-dependent system will do just fine as the economy recovers. Remember - it's the spenders in the Sundquist administration and their allies in the General Assembly who claim sales tax revenue doesn't grow with the economy. But in the past year sales tax revenue has grown slightly in Tennessee, while states dependent on the income tax have seen actual and very steep declines in their revenue.