January 23, 2015 2:58PM # Slashing the Budget? By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE I’ve written [before](https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/not-biggest-cut-history-not-long-shot) about the propensity of journalists to declare modest budget cuts—or reductions in the rate of growth of government spending—in apocalyptic terms such as “slashing” and “draconian.” I was thus amused by this line in a [*Washington Post* editorial](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-hogan-proposes-a-sensible-approach-to-spending-cuts/2015/01/22/72374d96-a27b-11e4-9f89-561284a573f8_story.html) today: > Mr. Hogan is **slashing** those payments by half, which will mean **cuts approaching 1 percent** to the school budgets of both Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. The editorial is generally sympathetic to budget cuts proposed by the new governor of Maryland, and of course the “extra funding from Annapolis mainly to cover higher teacher salaries” may actually be subject to larger cuts. Still, when the impact on the county school budget is “approaching 1 percent,” I’d think “slashing” is, well, overkill. ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).