One, Brown kept Democratic spending in check, but he also raised income taxes astronomically on the wealthy. Maybe all those taxes weren’t necessary in the rebounding economy.
Two, state spending under Brown — despite his skinflint image — has risen from roughly $131 billion to $200 billion, 53% in eight years.
Why does spending keep climbing steeply, decade after decade?
“There’s no pressure to control spending,” Hayes says. “I never got lobbied once to spend less. Everyone came in and asked to spend more. That’s nonpartisan. They just came in and said, ‘You can’t raise taxes.’”
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