• The General Fund portion of North Carolina’s $51.7 billion state budget for 2013 is now $20.18 billion, as passed by both the House and the Senate. This exceeds planned spending, as passed in 2011, by $242.2 million, but it does not necessitate a tax increase.
• All of this year’s General Fund proposals from the House, Senate, and governor have been for more spending than planned. The governor was the most extreme in this regard, proposing a sales tax increase from 4.75 to 5.5 percent and spending increase of $969.6 million.
• Tax revenues for fiscal year 2012 proved greater than projected by $232.5 million. The Fiscal Research Division also predicts slightly higher than expected revenues for the coming year, $21.0 million, for a two-year total of $253.5 million over previous projections.
• North Carolina’s Rainy Day Fund is just 1.6 percent of the General Fund, but legislators have approved spending 95.6 percent of the revenue surplus.
• By taking the lower cost of each General Fund component from the House and Senate proposals — “reverse logrolling” — with a couple of exceptions, one could achieve a General Fund total of $19.85 billion. That would save $330 million from the enacted General Fund and $87 million from last year’s plan.
