“Budget surpluses have largely stemmed from higher than expected tax collections — corporate tax revenues alone were 11 percent higher than budget estimates — and booming local economies. There has also been some relief in Medicaid spending, which fell from an 11 percent annual growth rate to something closer to 7 percent in the past few years.”

The writer, Catherine Billey, never does any investigation into what the drivers are for the higher tax revenues, booming economies, and lower Medicaid spending. If she did, she would likely find something that does not fit her ideological prism, i.e. decreasing personal and property taxes increases corporate tax revenue, thus improving the local economies (people buy things with more money in their pockets).

Second, the piece had to throw in the last four paragraphs about newly-elected Democratic legislatures addressing their social agendas. Never mind this is a piece on fiscal matters and what States are doing with the windfall.