Budgets are reflections of priorities, and in the world of public finance, a collective statement of how we think the world works. According to the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, the budget proposal of Governor M. Jodi Rell is based on a number of myths.

Here's a summary from the Institute's web site:

Myth One: Higher spending will improve the quality of education in Connecticut.

Reality Check: There is no evidence to support this claim, and the Rell administration is ignoring education-choice alternatives that promise better schools at a lower cost to taxpayers.

Myth Two: Hiking Connecticut's income tax will enable the governor and legislators to provide property-tax relief.

Reality Check: Since the adoption of the income tax in 1991 did not provide relief, raising its rate in the hope of providing a break for overburdened local taxpayers is naïve.

Myth Three: Big Government is "an investment in our future."

Reality Check: Forty years of research confirms that however well-intentioned, a massive welfare state creates perverse incentives and unintended consequences. Tax-and-spend policies also negatively impact a state’s economic health.

Myth Four: The state should create a new program for citizens who lack health insurance.

Reality Check: Connecticut's uninsured problem is less severe than "universal coverage" activists claim, and market-oriented policies -- not more subsidies -- are the answer.

Myth Five: "Mass" transit will alleviate Connecticut's congestion problems.

Reality Check: Despite its high population density, few Connecticut commuters use government-run trains and buses, and that is unlikely to change.

For more on this topic, see the institute's report, Fiscal Flapdoodle (PDF).