North Carolina needs fair and stable revenues to maintain and expand needed services

During the current recession it is more important than ever that the state not cut vital services that provide a cushion for workers who lose their job or their health insurance. Mark Holmes, health policy guru at the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, released a study noting that our citizens are losing health insurance at an astounding rate.

The Budget & Tax Center has some great proposals for raising stable revenues that do not unfairly burden low and middle-income families. You can see a presentation here.

Although Gov. Perdue’s cigarette tax proposal is great for preventing teen smoking, sin taxes alone are not fair or reliable. Instead, according to BTC tax experts, it makes more sense to broaden the sales tax base, broaden the personal income tax base and make it more progressive, and close corporate tax loopholes.