Budget conferees face a two-fold challenge as they hash out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2004 budget: minimizing the $300 to $500 million gap between proposed spending and on-going revenues in the two budgets;...

According to a new analysis, the proposed 2004 budget recently adopted by the House -- like the Governor's budget -- fails to fully close the structural hole in the state's finances. Following almost $2 billion of spending reductions over the last...

The Foundation's updated analysis of spending changes over the past two fiscal years concludes that the state has reduced expenditures by $1.9 billion in a host of programs -- not including the additional spending cuts that will be needed to address...

MTF calls on state policy makers to take advantage of the need for extraordinary solutions to the fiscal crisis and seize the best opportunity in years to undertake important reforms of state government. The bulletin highlights a number of issues...

In its annual analysis of state spending, the Taxpayers Foundation calls on state leaders to develop a fiscal blueprint for 2004 and 2005 to address the Commonwealth's massive and growing structural deficit. The report recommends that legislative...

In a new analysis, the Foundation credits the state's leaders for their efforts to address the Commonwealth's fiscal crisis through a realistic combination of spending cuts and tax increases in 2003. However, MTF warns that a remaining large...

As a result of recent tax revenue shortfalls, the House and Senate versions of the state budget for fiscal 2003 are at least $650 million out of balance. With more than $1 billion of additional tax revenues already included in the legislative budgets...

As the state struggles with a more than $2 billion budget gap in fiscal 2003, its leaders have an opportunity -- and a responsibility -- to correct spending abuses and eliminate inefficiencies that have been tolerated in the recent good times,...

While the state's leaders have agreed on a plan to fill the huge revenue shortfall in 2002, even larger deficits in 2003 and beyond remain unaddressed. Almost $1.3 billion will be drawn from reserves in 2002, and another $134 million of "savings"...