Reducing the scope of $5-billion question

I've been asking Republicans what $5-billion they would take out of the current state budget, to reflect how much smaller it would be if the state had adopted a spending amendment like TABOR 20 years ago. Some have said it's a phony question; others have tried to answer.

Now Paul Soglin, who knows something about municipal finances, brings the question down to a more manageable and understandable level.

I wish [Economist Barry] Paulson or one of these Republican Frankensteins who keep bringing TABOR back to life would once, just once, go through the exercise of deciding spending limits for one basic service, like the Fire Department in Milwaukee. Service levels are based on response time to every corner of the city, minimum staffing levels for on-duty firefighters, and a considerable number of related expenses, many of which are mandated by state government. Boys, don't forget those fire stations need heat and electricity!

They will either have to lower the quality of the service below safe guidelines, or

They will have to raise taxes above their beloved TABOR guidelines.

The right-wing controlled legislature is a sideshow carnival peddling a phony 'tax freeze' to the rubes, but it is a son-of-a-bitch when it comes to facing reality, which is what the voters of Colorado had to do after a couple of years of TABOR.

How about a fair discussion? Take the Madison or Milwaukee Fire Departments and tell us what you will cut and the consequences. Then we get five minutes of rebuttal.

Instead, in the Republican-controlled legislature, we get the old carnival "knock down the weighted milk bottles" game, with the giant stuffed animal prize of lower taxes and more "efficient" government just out of reach.

More from Soglin on the subject.