Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 25, 1992 TAG: 9201290333
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
HIGHER TAXES - BUT WITH A CATCH
IF RICHMOND is to increase taxes, and we think it should, not only does it need to raise them in the best possible way. The governor and lawmakers also must reassure Virginians that their money will be well-spent.The imperative to do so is a matter not just of desirable reform, but of political reality. A backlash against state spending cuts is upon us, to be sure. But without stronger assurances of accountability and efficiency, Virginians are unlikely to tolerate for long either tax hikes or the politicians who enact them.
Higher taxes should come packaged with a commitment to two continuous improvements: in the priorities governing allocation of funds, and in the way government is managed.
Under our proposal, the tax increases themselves would assure one priority: We've called for doubling (to 2 cents) the portion of the sales tax earmarked for education. More broadly, our representatives could reassure by giving greater weight to public good over special interests, and to future considerations over current pressures.
Reforming the state's campaign-finance laws, and opening up the budget process to broader oversight and participation, could buttress the general interest against the clamoring of insiders and lobbyists.
As for focusing on the future, the keys are prevention and investment. Richmond has to recognize that neither tax increases nor economic recovery will by themselves slay the inflationary dragons devouring the state's wealth.
The Medicaid monster, for instance, awaits federal taming under the auspices of a national health-care plan. But meantime, cost-containment strategies have wrongly sought quick fixes. Guided by preventive strategies, such as are recommended in Gov. Wilder's child-health initiative and the Virginia health board's new six-year plan, the state could improve long-term prospects for a healthier public body.
Likewise, corrections spending won't shrink when the recession ends. The answer isn't to build ever more prisons until they fill the horizon and bust the budget. The state has to consider more alternative sentencing for non-violent offenders, broader access to drug rehabilitation, more case management to help parolees find work.
While applying preventive medicine, the state needs also to boost aid for community development, schools, higher education and job training as (excuse the overused expression) investments in the future. No longer can Virginia rely on low-skill, low-wage employment: If we're to prosper, we have to have a world-class work force.
Look at the proposals of Lt. Gov. Don Beyer's commission on economic recovery. They include $21 million in new 1992-94 spending, not a huge sum in any case. But it's for items - ranging from expansion of the Center for Innovative Technology to an export databank for Virginia businesses and localities - that should more than pay for themselves in economic development.
Virginia taxpayers ought to be reassured if more of their tax dollars are spent on such investments, with prospects for good returns.
Still, properly allocating money won't help much if the spending is wasteful. To become more productive, the state must, in Beyer's words, "begin to change the public sector to employ . . . consumer-responsive quality management." This is not gobbledygook.
The governor has resorted to most of the traditional short-term strategies for cutting costs: freezing hiring and salaries; cutting spending across the board and eliminating a few programs; laying off workers; shifting funds around, etc. There have been some shakeups, such as in the education department.
But meantime the culture of state government hasn't changed much. There remains more austerity than innovation. Old ways could resume when good times do - unless government adopts the kind of workplace reforms that are beginning to revolutionize how some American businesses operate.
What does this mean? It means decentralizing state offices and decision-making, and revamping outmoded personnel policies and civil service rules. It means abandoning the political impulse toward power and control, and freeing managers to do things in new and imaginative ways.
It means promoting innovators willing to risk, and bosses willing to tolerate, intelligent failures. It means incorporating improvement as a part of routine, teamwork as the instrument of work. It means ensuring that the purpose of government is to serve its constituents, not itself.
Besides changing its culture, the state also must improve its accountability. This is perhaps the most important thing. We need more and more standards and measures by which to gauge performance. How can we tell, otherwise, where waste is; or what works and what doesn't?
How, for instance, can we be assured the extra money we want to spend on schools won't be wasted, unless we study variations in student test scores, teacher evaluations and other data to determine what accounts for differences in educational outcomes?
A lot more in government besides school tests could be measured as the basis for improving quality of service, yet the commitment to transformation is lacking. Beyer's commission has recommended starting a working group to begin integrating quality-management techniques into state government. It would be a start, but the governor has to lead the way.
Taxes, it has been said, are the price of civilization. But they also are the currency of the social contract. Raise revenues, spend wisely. It's a mutually beneficial pact.