Category: NC Budget and Tax Center

Statement from Budget and Tax Center on Announcement of House Tax Cut Plan

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May 16, 2013 at 11:32 amCategory:NC Budget and Tax Center

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The House tax plan will put at risk funding for educating our kids, maintaining our natural resources, and keeping our communities safe, all in order to provide the wealthiest North Carolinians with tax cuts.

The centerpiece of the plan is an unaffordable income tax cut that will primarily benefit the rich and profitable corporations.  The $1.2 billion price tag over five years is more than what we spend on our community colleges annually.

Washington lobbyist Grover Norquist is wrong about both the House and Senate tax cut plans. Neither is a good strategy for generating economic growth, better-paying jobs or encouraging people to move here.  What North Carolina needs is an educated workforce that supports innovation and a high quality of life, which will continue to make the state a great place to live and do business.  These ingredients for a strong economy require state investment that simply won’t be possible if these tax cuts become law.

Both tax plans are losing strategies for North Carolina. Not only will families be harmed but the foundations of economic growth will also be threatened.

Disparate treatment of working families compared to wealthy in proposed tax plans

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May 15, 2013 at 3:24 pmCategory:NC Budget and Tax Center

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Lawmakers are considering various tax plans that would either convert North Carolina’s personal income tax to a flat rate or phase it out altogether, while making the state more reliant on the sales tax. The result would be a tax shift on the majority of North Carolinians, hitting especially hard those at the bottom of the income ladder.

Legislation already inked into law this session signals that moderate- and low-income working families are not at the top of lawmakers’ list of priorities. In mid-March, the Governor signed a bill to axe North Carolina’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Unless lawmakers reverse course, nearly 907,000 working families—most of them with children to support—will face a tax increase beginning in tax year 2014. Read More…

Louisiana Governor “parks” unpopular tax plan

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May 15, 2013 at 10:15 amCategory:NC Budget and Tax Center

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This is the third of a three-part blog series presenting voices from other states that have unsuccessfully pursued versions of comprehensive tax “reform”. (See Part 1 and Part 2)

Commentary provided by Jan Moller, Director of the Louisiana Budget Project in Baton Rouge, LA.

Louisiana Budget Project

Louisiana is a conservative state with a very conservative governor who, until recently, was one of the most popular in the country.

But when Gov. Bobby Jindal unveiled a “revenue neutral” plan to eliminate Louisiana’s individual and corporate income taxes this year, something extraordinary happened: the people of Louisiana stood up, and the governor backed down. Less than three months after the plan was announced, the governor admitted defeat and said he was “parking” his package of bills. A week later, the chairman of the House tax-writing committee said any efforts to scrap the income tax were dead for the year. Read More…

Double-standard in defining poverty could limit educational opportunities for some

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May 14, 2013 at 3:36 pmCategory:NC Budget and Tax Center | Poverty and Policy Matters

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Education is perhaps the most promising public investment for promoting long-term economic prosperity. That’s why providing low-income children access to preschool and providing a high-quality education to all students in North Carolina’s public schools is vital to our state’s future.

Yet, policymakers have introduced education bills that inconsistently define “poverty” and “at-risk” in ways that would reduce access to early learning for low-income 4-year olds and divert needed public school funding to private schools. Read More…

Kansas’ glide path to the bottom

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May 14, 2013 at 9:03 amCategory:NC Budget and Tax Center

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This is the second of a three-part blog series presenting voices from other states that have unsuccessfully pursued versions of comprehensive tax “reform.” (See Part 1)

Commentary provided by Annie McKay, Executive Director of Kansas Center for Economic Growth in Topeka, KS.

Kansas Center for Economic Growth

Kansas’ Glide Path to the Bottom

Kansas should be on the road to recovery, climbing out of the hole created by the Great Recession. But instead we are on a path to more economic pain and uncertainty because of unaffordable tax cuts and the resulting cuts to services that erode the very foundations of our prosperity. Kansas policymakers have an opportunity to heed the lessons learned one year after its costly tax cut experiment and change course — before it’s too late.

Unfortunately, lawmakers look to be doubling down on the damage already done. Even as the House and Senate make up for the even deeper hole they created with tax cuts by cutting vital services for seniors and education funding for our children, and by permanently hiking the sales tax on everyone, they are moving forward with plans to eliminate the income tax. Read More…