Think you can do a better job of creating the state budget than the governor and lawmakers? Now, you can take a shot at setting the priorities for the billions of dollars that pour into the state treasury at SolvetheBudget.com.
The educational website poses more than three dozen yes/no tax and spending questions and instantly calculates whether your choices are keeping the budget in balance – or not.
SolvetheBudget.com is a fun simulation of the decisions that Louisiana leaders face, choosing how much to tax residents and businesses and how best to spend the money.
Most questions have a “Learn More” button that helps people understand taxes and spending in education, health care, coastal issues and transportation.
SolvetheBudget.com is a collaboration between the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, The Advocate|Times-Picayune and the LSU Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs.
The game takes less than 10 minutes to complete – far less time than the Legislature and the governor will take this spring to write the budget.
Players begin with the $25.3 billion in state money Gov. Jeff Landry proposed to spend in the financial year that begins July 1.
As users make choices, players will see a red or green bar indicating whether they’ve created a budget gap or given themselves more money to spend. Then, they can submit the decisions they made and compare their choices with others.
They can also share it on their social media.
SolvetheBudget.com doesn’t take a position on what the best choices are, or even whether these are the right questions. But it does provide a glimpse of how tricky it can be to set priorities and make the numbers work.
PAR is a private, nonprofit, non-partisan public policy research organization focused on pointing the way toward a more efficient, effective, transparent and accountable Louisiana government. PAR was founded in 1950 and is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. More about PAR at www.parlouisiana.org