taxes

By the Numbers 2003: What Government Costs in North Carolina Cities and Counties is the fourth in a series of studies that examine local taxes, fees, and charges in every North Carolina communities. Charlotte ranks first among major cities in combined local government costs per person, with Hickory, Durham, Wilmington, and Cary rounding up the top tier. Among large urban counties, Durham and Mecklenburg have relatively high costs as a percentage of personal income.

RALEIGH — As President Bush prepares to announce his $600 billion economic-growth package today at the Chicago Economic Club, local economists are pointing to proposed changes in the taxation of…

Former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith said that one of the greatest challenges facing local government is how to do more with less. This is certainly true for local governments in North Carolina. In the past two years, they have had to adjust to significantly more stringent budgetary constraints. This was brought on, in large part, by Governor Easley’s decision to withhold state reimbursements to counties and municipalities. Because of this localities are being forced to find innovative ways to balance their budgets.

RALEIGH — Republican nominee Elizabeth Dole maintains a clear lead in her U.S. Senate race against Democrat Erskine Bowles, according to a public opinion poll released today by the John…

RALEIGH — With pivotal legislative elections just weeks away, likely voters in North Carolina are critical of recent actions by Gov. Mike Easley and the General Assembly on taxes, local…

After months of delay, the state legislature has enacted a revised FY 2002–03 budget that differs little from the plan originally proposed by Gov. Mike Easley in May. Lawmakers adopted nearly all the governor's $543 million raid on local government reimbursements and highway funds, changing only what percentage will be made up with a sales tax increase. Taxpayers are the big losers—entering the second of what promises to be three straight years of huge tax hikes.

RALEIGH — Gov. Mike Easley and the state legislature have approved a revised budget for the current fiscal year that will likely result in hundreds of millions of dollars in…

RALEIGH — Delays may have put North Carolina lawmakers in the unfamiliar position of facing primary challengers in the midst of a legislative session, but candidates’ attempts to use support…

North Carolina’s state budget reflects its governmental priorities. Unfortunately, over the past two decades governors and lawmakers have usually chosen to add new programs to the state budget without considering the merits of existing programs and finding ways to fund higher-priority items by eliminating lower priorities. As a result, the budget has grown by leaps and bounds, interrupted only briefly by retrenchment during recessionary periods, including the past three fiscal years. Until state leaders learn to exercise fiscal discipline or to write fiscal discipline into law via a strong expenditure limit the budget problem will worsen.

As House and Senate leaders negotiate a final budget package for FY 2002-03, they should resist the usual temptation to "logroll" — to add in spending items favored by the other side — and instead accept the lower of the two chambers' previously approved figures for every department as well as the higher of the two chambers' previously approved fund transfers. With such "reverse logrolling," lawmakers could balance the state budget without a tax increase.