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PrintJEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Jay Nixon is ready to outline his cuts to Missouri's budget.
Nixon has scheduled a news conference for late Thursday morning at his Capitol office to discuss Missouri's budget for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Log onto Twitter and answer this question using the hashtag #threemocuts: What Missouri budget items will get the ax from Gov. Jay Nixon?
Nixon's budget director already has said the governor will make well more than $100 million of line-item vetoes and spending reductions in the budget.
Legislators passed a roughly $23 billion operating budget, as well as a $600 million capital improvements bill that includes numerous projects funded with federal stimulus money.
The expected budget cuts come as Missouri's tax revenues decline by an even greater amount than state officials had forecast.
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Answer this question, readers: What Missouri budget items will get the ax from Gov. Jay Nixon?
— Nate Birt, Missourian teaching assistant
Missouri is a state; it is not the national government. As a state, Missouri cannot run budget deficits, nor is it allowed to legally print money to cover its deficits.
If expenditures are greater than revenues there are only two choices: either reduce expenditures or increase revenues, which usually translates into raising state taxes. (Actually, the state could engage in both those options simultaneously, and that might be the best possible solution.) If the legislature is unwilling to raise taxes, the only alternative is to reduce expenditures.
It's not rocket science!