Just go read this article/slide show from the Texas Observer about the gap between what Rick Perry says about the state’s finances and the truth. It’s stuff we mostly knew already, but it’s still sobering to see like that. And keep this in mind:
Last month, the [Legislative Budget Board] warned lawmakers that there will be at least an $11 billion shortfall in 2011—thanks to the 2006 property-tax cuts. [State Rep. Jim] Dunnam, and other legislators, predict the shortfall will be much worse.
“We are hearing anywhere from $15 to $20 billion,” he says. “You think 2003 was bad. You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
I’ve heard that Republican State Rep. Jim Pitts, who chairs the Appropriations committee, has been saying the same thing about the size of the shortfall. It’s going to be brutal. And to a large degree, we have Rick Perry to thank for it.
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