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Post on March 9, 2010 by 1 Comment »

Sunrise_over_the_sea

Here’s something to think about as the talk in Raleigh turns to how the General Assembly should address a budget shortfall that Governor Beverly Perdue says could reach a billion dollars this summer.

A report (.pdf) from the legislature’s Fiscal Research Division says that the state spent more than a billion dollars in 2008-2009 on tax breaks for individual companies and specific industries as part of the state’s economic development strategy.

That does not include the direct cash payments to companies that the governor made.

That report provides a detailed list of the tax breaks, which seems like a much better place to look for ways to fill the budget hole than looking for more cuts in public schools or mental health programs.

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Comments (Closed):1

  1. Kimberly
    March 9, 2010 at 9:01 am

    I couldn’t agree with you more. I have been saying for many years that the state would rather spend money on tax breaks and business “incentives” than provide for the health and well being of the children in the state. It has always been my strong belief that health and human services such as Medicaid, SCHIP, Mental Health Services, and Children’s Special Health Care Needs Services should never be cut but should receive increases in funding. The continued cuts in Public Health Programs are placing a severe burden on families at a time when they can least afford it. These cuts then have a broader impact on employment, state finances, education, and more. The last thing that should ever be considered when deciding what cuts to make is Public Health Programs. Unfortunatley, too many people don’t see or understand the broader impact that cuts to Public Health Programs has.