Gov. Jack Dalrymple needs to do two things to begin addressing falling post-oil boom tax revenues which just can’t seem to find rock bottom.
First, we need to start the process of finding a better forecaster for state revenues than Moody’s Analytics. That company, which produces the revenue forecasts which are used for budgeting, couldn’t get state tax revenues right when revenues were booming at the peak of the oil boom. Now, post-oil boom, they can’t get the falling revenues right either. In a state where part-time lawmakers must budget for two-year budget cycles using revenue projections to know how much they have to spend, wildly inaccurate revenue projections are simply not acceptable.
