State agencies were told Friday they should plan on cutting more than $3.5 billion from their budgets in the upcoming fiscal year, a move that could bring furloughs and layoffs among Georgia’s 200,000 teachers and state employees.
[…] Danny Kanso, a budget analyst for the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute think tank, said spending cuts without any attempt to increase state revenue “means accelerating a massive economic downturn, severely underfunding schools, and negatively affecting the lives of millions of Georgians in every community across the state.”
His left-leaning group has advocated raising the state’s cigarette taxes – among the lowest in the country – and cutting back on billions of dollars worth of special interest tax breaks lawmakers have approved over the years.
