spending

RALEIGH – North Carolina lawmakers could cut taxes, slice $1 billion from the governor’s budget plan, and still spend more money on top priorities. That’s according to the John Locke…

RALEIGH – Gov. Mike Easley has proposed North Carolina’s first $20 billion budget, thanks to $210 million in new taxes and a 7.2 percent increase in operations spending. That’s according…

The General Assembly is often said to have "tax and spend" policies, but its pattern is one of "spend and tax" policies. During economic booms, tax revenues increase and legislators fund new programs that cannot be sustained during an economic bust. When the bust comes, legislators raise taxes to pay for those new government programs.

RALEIGH – North Carolina legislators employ a “spend and tax” budget policy that paves the way for regular tax hikes, according to a new John Locke Foundation Policy Report.

Economic growth has given the General Assembly $2.4 billion more to spend. Higher sales and income taxes have contributed to this surplus. The Senate adds $1.4 billion in new spending, and relies on nonrecurring revenues for $400 million in new recurring obligations. Drawing on the John Locke Foundation’s Freedom Budget 2005, this paper offers an alternative budget that would end the sales tax and income tax increases from 2001, eliminate Medicaid’s burden on counties, and keep spending growth to 4.3 percent – all within the limit of population growth and inflation.

RALEIGH – N.C. legislators should close the books on two “temporary” taxes, now that those taxes have helped generate a $2.4 billion state budget surplus. That’s a key finding in…

A careful review of experiences in Raleigh and Charlotte should warn other North Carolina cities that convention and civic center projects are a bad idea.

RALEIGH – Two N.C. cities could save taxpayers from millions of dollars in unnecessary spending, by slamming the door on new convention center projects. That’s the key recommendation in a…

Budget proposals from Gov. Mike Easley and the Senate put state spending back on the path of rapid growth last seen in the late 1990s. After inflation, the state will spend 10 percent more per resident on operations in the FY2006-07 than it did just three years ago. Real spending per resident is up 23 percent in the last decade. If the General Assembly had restricted spending growth to inflation and population growth over the decade, the General Fund operations budget would be $3.4 billion less than proposed.

Gov. Mike Easley’s proposed $18.9 billion budget does not provide enough relief to taxpayers who made it possible. The governor could have returned the $1.1 billion in overcollections to taxpayers without jeopardizing future fiscal health. This would include ending the half-cent sales tax and 8.25 percent income tax rate set to expire in 2007, and providing a temporary quarter-cent sales tax refund. Removing the county burden for Medicaid would also ease the fiscal pressure local governments face to raise taxes to pay for schools and roads.