2006 Ohio Piglet Book from the Buckeye Institute

The new Buckeye Institute's 2006 Ohio Piglet Book is out (HT: Right Angle Blog). It delves into the details of Ohio's budget:

...According to the 2006 Ohio Budgetary Financial Report, the state’s cash-basis, unaudited report prepared at the close of the fiscal year, General Revenue Fund expenditures for FY06 were essentially flat, growing by only 0.1 percent over FY05. On a budget of $25.5 billion, the growth was $35 million.

Compared to increases of 4.1 percent in 2005, 5.2 percent in 2004, and 4.7 percent in 2003,5 this represents a significant improvement.

However, before Ohioans start celebrating, they should note that the General Revenue Fund is only slightly more than half of total state spending. While the 2006 General Revenue Fund expenditure was $24.9 billion, total state spending was $47.1 billion. That resulted in a total spending increase of 4.8 percent. This increase was the second-closest year to the overall average increase of 6 percent from 2005-2006.

It is one thing for Ohio’s political leaders to keep General Revenue Fund expenditures flat, and they should receive credit for it. But what counts is the total burden on Ohio taxpayers. If that burden is in fact higher than some recent years, then Ohio legislators are playing a disingenuous game...