Editorial: When legislators say there isn't money, they mean corporate tax cuts are more important
Wednesday, July 10, 2019 -- The reason there are cuts and spending freezes, as legislators well know, isn't in vagaries of the economy or other external forces. It is a most conscious decision legislators made themselves. The TOP priority, ahead of any other need, is cutting corporate taxes. It has been a case of way too much, way too fast.
Posted — UpdatedIt was a stunning confession. It says far more than state Rep. Craig Horn probably intended when he recently talked to a New York Times reporter. It revealed a basic truth about the priorities of the leaders of North Carolina’s legislature.
What! North Carolina doesn’t have the money? How could that be? Just look at the bragging from the state’s top legislative leader about our economy.
The truth is North Carolina DOES have the money. There are the funds to provide quality pre-K access; top quality public schools, community colleges and universities; basic health services for ALL those in need; along with new and properly maintained roads and other infrastructure.
But those are not the priorities of our state’s legislature leaders. All that money is being spent, but not on what North Carolinians need.
The reason there are cuts and spending freezes, as legislators well know, isn’t in vagaries of the economy or other external forces. It is a most conscious decision legislators made themselves.
Since 2014, the legislature has made its TOP priority, ahead of any other need, cutting corporate taxes. But it has been a case of way too much, way too fast – particularly given the needs of the state and considering the huge federal tax cuts businesses received a couple of years ago.
Corporate tax collections were nearly $1.33 billion in the 2014 budget year. This year collections will be about half that. If corporate tax revenues simply remained the same as they were in 2014, there would have been an additional $2.3 billion available for important needs over the last five years.
But the kids, and other needs, STILL are not as important as cutting taxes. The pending budget plan includes another $387 million in cuts – about 88 percent for businesses.
While Rep. Horn observed: “We simply don’t have the money,” he’s not quite correct. The money is there.
It is just that Horn and most of his fellow legislators would rather not spend it on programs that, say help children get ready to learn when they start school.
It’s far more important to spend it on tax cuts for businesses. Don’t believe it? Just check with the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce.
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