Union Leader pushes budget reform

The Union Leader advocates chaning the way New Hampshire puts its budget together, and stop basing next year's priorities on last year's spending:

As New Hampshire slides toward the creation of a sales or income tax, Gov. John Lynch has taken a similarly casual approach to state budgeting. Instead of working feverishly to avoid the coming crisis, he waits until the financial situation is dire and then offers a patchwork of temporary fixes that only delay the need for serious reforms.

If New Hampshire is going to avoid an economically devastating broad-based tax, the state has to change the way it budgets. The machine is sputtering, and (with a few exceptions) rather than tune it up, the governor passively runs it as-is. (more)