Some creative suggestions for a cash-strapped government

The recession has been hard on a lot of people, and it hasn’t been easy for our state and local governments either. They can’t just print their own money like the federal government can, so when the economy tanks and tax revenues plummet they have trouble paying the bills just like we do. And often times they are forced to tighten their belts in ways that cause real discomfort for their constituents.

Some government workers have had their pay frozen and some are facing mandatory unpaid “vacations.” Important capital improvement projects have been put on hold. Parks and recreation areas are not open as many days of the week or for as many hours a day as they used to be. And now local libraries have also had their operating hours cut back at the worst possible time – just as the kids are getting out of school and needing a nice safe place to hang out.

I realize that our government is faced with a difficult situation and I understand that they have to do something to cope with the loss of revenue caused by this troubled economy. But it seems like the cuts that they are making are depriving us of some of the best things the government does for us, and I’m not sure that they’ve considered all the options here.

Are there other areas of spending that could be cut or avenues of generating additional revenue that might be tapped so that Georgians would not be deprived of much-needed government services? Frankly I believe that we can do better than furloughing school teachers and shutting down public libraries. Here are just a few ideas off the top of my head:

- Furlough the state legislature. It costs a great deal of money to operate the legislature, and if they were to meet for a shorter period of time for the next several years it would save us a significant amount of money. I’m not so sure that we wouldn’t be better off overall if they had less time to “improve” the laws we already have in place anyway. Oftentimes it seems like they do more harm than good, doesn’t it? And while we’re talking about the legislature, maybe we should…

- Tax lobbyists. I’m not sure what kind of fees the representatives of big businesses and special interest groups pay in order to have the privilege of cozying up to our lawmakers, but whatever it is I bet it’s not enough. Lord knows they’ll probably get it back with grants and “targeted tax cuts” anyway, but maybe we’d at least have a chance to break even if we charged them a significant registration fee.

- Sin taxes. Now hold on a minute – it’s not what you think. I’m not advocating raising taxes on cigarettes and liquor. Those taxes are high enough as it is, and frankly I’m not convinced that smoking a Marlboro or drinking a Budweiser is a “sin” anyway. I’m talking about adding huge fines to the jail sentences of the real bad apples in our society. Murderers, rapists, child abusers, repeat-offender drunk drivers – those are sins that really need to be taxed. Instead, their room and board is coming out of your family budget. Why should they be protected from the recession if they have money in the bank or houses and cars that could be auctioned off?

- Rent out the governor’s mansion. I don’t know how many rooms there are in that big house we provide for the governor and his spouse, but I have to believe that they aren’t using all of them. Imagine how much a high-roller (if there are any of them left out there) would pay for the privilege of sleeping down the hall from our chief executive and the first lady. Turn it into a bed and breakfast I say, and turn the profits over to the people.