Afternoon Panel

States’ Long-Term Budget Gaps: Are There Any Solutions?

Nov. 30, 2009

New York State leaders and national experts on state finances explored fiscal problems facing the states and examined potential solutions at the Institute’s first national conference on states’ long-term budget gaps. State leaders wrestling with large budget gaps cannot solve the dilemma entirely by cutting budgets and services, but must start looking at longer-term revenue solutions, Johnson said during the afternoon panel discussion. McMahon and Cape focused on the expenditure side of the equation. With state expenditures far outpacing growth in GDP or tax revenues, New York’s General Fund spending is projected at $75 billion in fiscal 2013 while revenues are projected at $56 billion, McMahon said. Cape agreed that spending represented the biggest part of the fiscal problem for states, and he used New York as an example of what is happening throughout the country.

McMahon's slide presentation

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