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As the 2020 election season gathers momentum, North Carolina’s tax reforms and demands for higher spending on any number of government programs will be front and center. One example is a…

The state budget battle has entered extra innings. Gov. Cooper signed and vetoed another batch of mini budgets, the ninth round of budget-related legislation since his first budget veto on…

The Democratic party’s most radically progressive candidates, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have promised to impose a tax on wealth. To be clear, wealth is distinct from income. Wealth is…

In this research update, I take a closer look at revenues and expenditures in North Carolina over the past 20 years. I use actual collections and expenditures from the…

The John Locke Foundation is approaching its 30th anniversary, and the Republican majority in the General Assembly is halfway through its fifth session. It seems a good time to…

Despite his protestations, Gov. Roy Cooper has signed three mini-budget bills passed unanimously by the General Assembly. Republican legislative leaders signaled their move to piecemeal budgeting in mid-August when they…

Only four House Democrats refused to sign a letter pledging to uphold Gov. Roy Cooper’s budget veto. That is three fewer than the seven Democratic votes needed to override and…

In addition to questions of money and Medicaid, the budget stalemate raises a philosophical question: When is a balanced budget not a balanced budget? North Carolina’s state constitution and…

Does the current budget impasse between the N.C. General Assembly and Gov. Roy Cooper feel different? It should.  There is less of a sense of crisis even though the decisions…

The North Carolina budget bill (House Bill 966) for fiscal years (FY) 2019-20 and 2020-21 is over a thousand pages of provisions and monetary line items describing…