North Dakota Government Guilty Of Windfall Profits
BISMARCK – The state government’s rosy revenue outlook got another boost in November, state budget officials said Wednesday.
Five months into the current two-year budget, collections from state taxes, fees and other sources are more than $60 million ahead of last spring’s projections, or 17 percent, Budget Director Pam Sharp told the Legislature’s Budget Section.
Higher prices for oil pumped in the state and strong sales-tax growth are two places where big increases are seen.
Put another way, if the state’s economy stagnated now and revenues merely met projections for the next 19 months, the state would still finish the biennium June 2007 with a $77 million cushion.
There is no stagnation in sight, Sharp told the legislators.
“I would anticipate we’re going to continue to see growth in the economy,” she said.
In addition, the state Budget Stabilization Fund has an additional $99.5 million set aside as a safety net.
What an absolutely disturbing amount of profit. I think the state government should immediately effect a plan to redistribute these windfall profits back to North Dakotans. I'm sure Senator Dorgan, and the Democrats who stand with him, would be with me on this.
Right? Well, maybe not. They wouldn't be Democrats if they couldn't figure out new and exciting ways to spend our money rather than give it back to us.
All joking aside, though, things are going pretty great here in North Dakota. The economy is booming. The only real worry I can see on the horizon is some in-state inflation thanks to wage increases due to too-low unemployment numbers. North Dakota needs workers, and needs them badly. If there is a problem our government needs to address going into the next legislative it is how to attract more workers to the state.
