If families have to tighten belts, why not Texas?

The state’s budget shortfall is the proverbial political “hot potato.”

Republicans now control the governor’s mansion, the state Senate and the House for the first time since the 19th century. And they assume this historic role as we are facing a potential $9.9 billion budget shortfall.

Let’s put it in perspective. The Texas biennial budget is $114 billion. The current budget shortfall is well under 10 percent of the budget. That is not good, but it is not unmanageable, either. What would be unmanageable is the cure tax proponents are proposing.

While lawmakers are naturally concerned about the impact of spending cuts on “essential” services, they should be even more concerned about the effects of tax increases — not only on individual citizens but also on the performance of the state’s economy.

Whether you spell it hot “potato” or “potatoe,” the budget shortfall is providing big-government advocates with political momentum to call for higher taxes, including a state income tax.

An income tax is not the answer. During the 1990s, people living in states without an income tax enjoyed greater personal income growth than their neighbors living in higher-tax states.

Personal income in Texas, for example, grew at a rate more than one-third faster than in neighboring states.

High-tax states have lower economic growth and less household income growth than low-tax states. While some will say we’d “hardly feel a tiny tax increase,” increasing the tax burden on the citizens and businesses of a state has a profoundly harmful impact on economic vitality.

We should not look to tax increases but to spending cuts.

Setting spending priorities and budgeting are important issues for both a family and a government. In these tough economic times, families are facing tough decisions — companies are laying off workers and working Texans are tightening their belts.

And Texas is not unique. Only a handful of states are not facing deficits.

While many states will succeed in closing their budget deficits through a variety of tax increases, the solution is short-lived. The economic evidence is very clear that these tax increases hurt their state economies, lower residents’ incomes and slow business creation as economic activity moves to low-tax locations. This seems like a high price to pay to avoid making tough choices on state spending.

Already, roughly 1,000 bills have been filed in the Texas Legislature — including several calling for tax increases.

Let’s face it: Taxpayers aren’t eager to hear of more ways to extract dollars. Texans want the Legislature to handle, not toss, that hot potato. When families think “there’s no place to cut,” we find ways to make ends meet and take care of our families’ priorities. And we expect government to do the same thing.

Our forefathers envisioned a limited government and unlimited opportunities for citizens. Instead, we have taxpayers footing the bill for a cumbersome government with too many entitlements and program-mission creep.

We should look at programs across the board and ask the tough questions: Is the program an appropriate role of government? Is it being done efficiently? And are goals and objectives being met?

It is precisely the reason the zero-based budgeting approach taken by the new leadership — Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick — is the right approach.

This budgeting method requires justification of programs and expenditures. Rather than simply looking at what the state spent last year and adding to that to calculate this year’s budget, zero-based budgeting provides a mechanism to identify and analyze item by item what government is doing. Let’s keep in mind that government should not be trying to do more efficiently what government should not be doing at all.

It’s working Texas families that are footing the bill for an ever-growing government — whether we pay it in sales taxes, in local property taxes to support local schools or whether it’s imbedded in the cost of goods and services.

Let’s get real: We taxpayers foot the bill for government whether it’s taken from our right-hand pocket or our left. And I haven’t met many taxpayers who believe taxes are too low — with the exception of those who have a vested interest in growing government programs and increasing taxes. Those are the ones who created this budget shortfall “hot potato.” And before asking taxpayers for more money, it would be prudent to review how effectively the government is spending the money it already collects.

Venable, based in Austin, heads Texas Citizens for a Sound Economy, a 48,000-member organization of consumers that “supports common-sense approaches to solving public policy problems.”