Rhode Island Doesn’t Have a Revenue Problem — It Has a Spending Problem

Why a $14 Billion Budget, Fast‑Growing Revenues, and Yet Another “Millionaire’s Tax” Prove Smith Hill Has Its Priorities Backwards

Rhode Island lawmakers are at it again.

House Finance is now weighing a massive tax hike on income over $1 million – a 50% increase on the top rate – and they’re trying to sell it as “fairness” and “shared sacrifice.” But when you look at the numbers, the story is very different. Rhode Island doesn’t have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem.

Since FY2019, state revenues have been growing faster than inflation. That means government is already taking in more money, in real terms, than it did just a few years ago. At the same time, the overall state budget has ballooned into the mid‑$14 billion range. Year after year, instead of asking where the money is going, legislative leaders simply add new programs, new line items, and new promises – then act shocked when the bill comes due.

Last year alone, lawmakers piled on over $100 million in new taxes and fees. Not to fix roads. Not to lower your electricity bill. Not to give working families a break. Just to feed a state budget that keeps expanding faster than the paychecks of the people funding it.

Now their answer is to target “millionaires,” as if there’s no consequence to constantly raising taxes on the people who invest, hire, and build in Rhode Island. But you don’t have to be a millionaire for this to hit you. When top earners, small business owners, and entrepreneurs decide they’ve had enough and move or invest somewhere else, jobs and opportunities leave with them. The tax base shrinks, and guess who politicians turn to next? The middle class.

If revenue is already growing faster than inflation and the budget is bigger than ever, why is the answer always “more taxes” instead of “better priorities”? Before the General Assembly demands one more dollar from anyone, it should have to explain why billions in new spending in just a few years still isn’t enough.

Rhode Islanders are taxed, tolled, and fee‑ed to death. The problem isn’t that you’re not paying enough. The problem is that they won’t stop spending.