State and local governments across the country all fund the same categories of public services: schools, Medicaid, social services, roads, corrections, etc. It says a lot about the priorities of a state’s legislators and electorate about which programs they fund the most generously (or, in our case, the most parsimoniously).
In its 2011 edition of “Virginia Compared to the Other States,” the Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission (JLARC) publishes a number of state rankings. Here is how Virginia fared:
- Medicaid expenditures per capita total (FY 2008): $691, or 47th highest in the country.
- Welfare expenditures as a percentage of total state expenditures (2009): 18.8%, or 43rd highest
- Road expenditures (FY 2008): $633, 42nd
- State and local taxes as a percentage of personal income (FY 2008): 9.5%, or 40th highest.
- Pre-K state and local funding per pupil (2007-2008): $4,849, 38th
- Schoolteacher average salary (2007-2008): $46,680, 29th
- In-State tuition at public institutions (2010-2011): $8,814, or 14th
Do lower Medicaid and welfare expenditures reflect hate-the-poor attitudes on the part of Republicans and Byrd conservatives? Or could they reflect the state’s low unemployment rate (39th) and poverty rate (42nd)?
Put another way, could there be a connection between (a) lower state expenditures on social “welfare” programs and (b) lower taxes? Further, could there be a connection between (b) lower taxes and (c) lower unemployment and poverty?