Cferrac🎨🖌️✍️Dec 15, 2022
Micah Pollak

Indiana ended fiscal year 2022 with a budget surplus of $3.9 BILLION (with a "B"!). This is the largest budget surplus for the state since at least 1976 (which was as far back as I went) by a huge margin and SIX TIMES what the state predicted it would see in 2022.

I would love to see this record surplus lead to record investment in education, healthcare, economic development, social programs and infrastructure.

#Indiana #HoosierMast #PublicFinance #Surplus #BudgetSurplus

Dec 11, 2022 at 11:20pmWeb
Show threadSandra GoodsonDec 12, 2022
@pollak
well don't hold your breath. The reason they have that surplus is because they don't invest in any of that.
Show threadTwindadrunnerDec 12, 2022
@pollak And I want to win the lottery. But neither of these things will likely happen (I don’t even play the lottery 😂). It’s very frustrating.
Show threadMicah PollakDec 12, 2022
@jschiemann Well, the first step to winning the lottery is buying a ticket!
Show threadBathsheba BlueDec 12, 2022
@pollak
Did the state rake in federal stimulus money then refuse to spend it? Many GOP states have done that and are touting their economic policy.
Show threadMicah PollakDec 12, 2022
@inklings It would take some digging to see what percent of Federal stimulus received by Indiana was spent, but I believe Indiana has done a pretty good job spending most of what they received. Most of the higher than expected budget surplus is due to a strong economy (higher than expected income tax revenue and lower than expected state expenses).
Show threadBathsheba BlueDec 12, 2022
@pollak
Thx. I didn’t mean to sound snarky. But my state pocketed fed money, (cut off EUI early, failed to distribute housing funds, didn’t invest in school ventilation etc.) and has a record surplus and wants to use that as an excuse to eliminate the state income tax.
Show threadShawn DooleyDec 12, 2022
@pollak Thoughts on why/where this surplus came from? I have some hunches, but strive to live in a data-driven world.
Show threadMicah PollakDec 12, 2022

@dooleysm Based on the passed FY2000-2002 budget the State was already forecasting a budget surplus of $1.7B for the year (the largest surplus forecast in over a decade). But then on top of that we saw:
(A) $1.2B higher revenue than expected.
(B) $930M less expenses than expected.

It would take some digging to figure out why but, higher than expected gas tax revenue is definitely part of it.

Show threadLukeDec 12, 2022
@pollak Wow... Me too... but my impression of Indiana law makers is that they don't do great things for their people. Maybe I'm wrong, just an impression.
Show threadgizmomathboy, FCDec 12, 2022

@pollak @dougmasson like that legislature would even ponder that

It looks like they are considering giving public education money to entities we have no electoral oversight.

Giving money to public education? That flies in the face of their efforts to destroy it.

Nevermind the monstrous brain drain Indiana has been experiencing for about 20 years. Even with The Blade's effort to keep in-state tuition frozen, nominally not quite actually.

Show threadMvercyDec 13, 2022
@gizmomathboy @pollak @dougmasson
Maybe making sure nobody can get an abortion in their state.
Show thread⚜️SYM⚜️Dec 18, 2022
@pollak Though I’m descended from Roosevelt Dem. Hoosiers, I can’t deny that the state has become quite the Republican cesspool. Sigh. The state that spawned the resurgence of the Klan in the 1920s also spawned Eugene V. Debs.