“It’s time our state budget matched our state aspirations. That means deciding what we need to do together and making sure we have the revenues to do the job right.”
Georgia Coalition United for a Responsible Budget engages with organizations
that want to work together to achieve a state budget that meets the needs of
Georgia's families. GA CURB was born during a state fiscal downturn when
health, social services and education programs were being cut and supporters
of those programs needed a unified voice to protect essential services.
GA
CURB members have continued working together even as the economy has
improved because they see the importance of taking the large and long view
of the state budget as the mechanism by which we can achieve our aspirations
as a community.
It’s time our state budget matched our state aspirations. That means deciding what we need to do together as a state and making sure we have the revenues to do the job right. Both sides of the ledger matter. It means making sure the revenue base is secure against the inevitable economic downturns that increase the need for safety net programs. It means assuring transparency and preventing special interests from eroding the tax base through preferential treatment that shifts the burden to others. It means making sure the tax system is fair.
GA CURB participants have worked to educate ourselves on budget and revenue issues affecting our state beyond the individual programs that concern each of us. GA CURB has begun to help raise awareness among policymakers of the need to look at spending and revenues together instead of enacting tax breaks in isolation without consideration of the impact. Members have helped show the importance of critical human services programs and have publicized concerns about the need for appropriate tax reform. In 2005, GA CURB played a major role in stopping a dangerous Medicaid “modernization” plan that could have severely limited access to federal funds and cut benefits to vulnerable Georgians.
We invite you to join in this important work. Participating in GA CURB does not mean that every group agrees completely on every issue. It does not affect any group’s individual activities. What membership does do is give us all a more powerful voice on the importance of public services that affect all Georgians directly or indirectly and on the funding infrastructure that makes them possible. For more on the concerns and ideas that drive GA CURB’s work, go to About CURB.