Taxes Galore!

As was my fear before, the states already strapped for cash has started to raise revenue through other less subtle ways. Like in Georgia, there is an increase in the speeding ticket, in New York it is the horse racing. Kentucky has raised its cigarette taxes and list will go on and on. Although through these ways they are trying to avoid the backlash of the general public by targeting specific portions of the population but the states are still in the red and will keep on accumulating more revenue losses until there is a general consensus to have a broad based tax increase.

The above mentioned increases are miniscule compared with the red ink that is flowing through the budgets of states. There will come a time (not to distant future) either drastic spending will have to be reduced or drastic increase in taxes will have to be initiated. Or the things that people now take for granted as free will no longer be free. This is the dilemma of the states that will not go away by having some accounting gimmicks or some one time infusion of cash (like the Federal Stimulus funds) to balance their budgets (look at what has happened to California and is happening in New York). Nobody wants to increase taxes or pay for that matter but to provide services we will have to swallow this bitter pill or see those services vanish.