…on America’s governors for 2012.
CATO Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors: 2012
The recovery from the recent recession has been very sluggish, and the nation’s governors have struggled with the resulting budget deficits, unemployment, and other economic problems in their states. Many reform-minded governors elected in 2010 have championed tax reforms and spending restraint to get their states back on track. Other governors have expanded government with old-fashioned tax-and-spend policies.
That is the backdrop to the Cato Institute’s 11th biennial fiscal report card on the governors, which examines state budget actions since 2010. It uses statistical data to grade the governors on their taxing and spending records—governors who have cut taxes and spending the most receive the highest grades, while those who have increased taxes and spending the most receive the lowest grades.
Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors: 2012
The recovery from the recent recession has been very sluggish, and the nation’s governors have struggled with the resulting budget deficits, unemployment, and other economic problems in their states. Many reform-minded governors elected in 2010 have championed tax reforms and spending restraint to get their states back on track. Other governors have expanded government with old-fashioned tax-and-spend policies.That is the backdrop to the Cato Institute’s 11th biennial fiscal report card on the governors, which examines state budget actions since 2010. It uses statistical data to grade the governors on their taxing and spending records—governors who have cut taxes and spending the most receive the highest grades, while those who have increased taxes and spending the most receive the lowest grades.
Read the free PDF.
Truth, Lies and In Between 
The institute says that it “grades governors on their fiscal policies from a limited-government perspective…on their taxing and spending records. Governors who have cut taxes and spending the most receive the highest grades, while those who have increased taxes and spending the most receive the lowest grades.” In other words, Cato’s focus is narrowly based on spending and taxes, and does not take into account low debt, high bond ratings and other indicators of sound fiscal policy. Nor does it take into account whether a state’s tax burden is already low; only whether it’s lower or higher than it was.
These “report cards” can never be all encompassing. I look at it as a snap shot.
There are a lot of factors they don’t/won’t touch because the average Joe wouldn’t know what the hell they’re talking about.