“This is a tough budget,” Mayor Vincent C. Gray said when releasing his $9.6 billion fiscal 2012 proposal. He has made that statement ad infinitum, hoping, through repetition, residents will embrace it as fact. Gray deserves some credit: He has suggested $187 million in spending cuts and proposed implementing important fiscal policies like combined income reporting for businesses. But a critical review of his budget reveals he has sidestepped many hard decisions.
When he appears Wednesday before the D.C. Council to formally present his plan, the legislature should stamp it dead on arrival.
“The mayor’s budget strikes the right balance of spending cuts, revenue enhancements, government efficiency initiatives and preservation of core services, all to ensure fiscal stability,” said Gray’s spokeswoman, Doxie McCoy.
Don’t believe the rhetoric.
Instead of reducing the size and ultimate cost of government, Gray has put it on an obesity plan. For example, he has added new offices — D.C. Open Government and two deputy mayors — that will cost more than $8 million in 2012; the price tag increases in subsequent years. In fact, costs in nearly every major category are expected to increase from 2013 to 2015, according to the budget.
Gray also has used gimmicks and a slew of onerous revenue enhancements to close what had been a $322 million gap. For example, he has proposed increasing withholding taxes from workers, generating $46 million in revenues. That money, he said, would be returned the following year for people who typically get a tax refund.
“That ranks right up there with the fifth-quarter property tax contrivance,” said Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, referring to a gimmick employed in the 1990s by then-Mayor Sharon Pratt (Kelly). By creating an extra quarter, it allowed her to collect in advance taxes from the upcoming year to mask overspending.
Gray also has proposed increasing the tax rate from 8.5 percent to 8.9 percent on personal annual income of $200,000 or more. That action would generate $35 million.
Fortunately, Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown and others have vowed to stop that increase; he introduced Tuesday a measure that would create a commission to recommend reforms of the city’s tax codes.
There are ways to stop immediate onerous tax increases: The council could eliminate the offices Gray has added to the bureaucracy. Freedom of Information Act requests in the past have been handled by the Office of the Attorney General; there isn’t a need for a separate agency.
The District spends more than $2 billion each year procuring goods and services; the legislature could effect an across-the-board cut, which could generate the $35 million Gray has tried to squeeze from high-income earners. Setting a moratorium on tax abatements also could yield necessary revenues.
Oddly, Gray’s 2012 budget mimics in many ways those submitted by former Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. As council chairman, Gray railed against those plans. Now, he has proved he’s equally adept at nickel-and-diming residents.
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
