The next state economic forecast which comes out Wednesday will tell lawmakers whether there’s a projected budget surplus — or they have to deal with a deficit in the 2019 legislative session. Democratic Representative Lyndon Carlson, incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, predicts a “significant” budget surplus — possibly the better part of a billion dollars — but Carlson notes the current healthy economy is in part due to the federal tax cuts. “It’s fairly clear that that was a temporary bump,” he says.
Carlson says some economists predict growth will slow in a year or so. “Folks on the business pages are saying that they could see an economic slowdown in 2021 — still growth, but not the amount of growth that we have had up to this point,” he says. If that happens, could cause a budget shortfall in 2021 — although lawmakers could take steps to cushion that.
More in this interview with MNN’s Bill Werner: