The future of North Carolina’s reputation as a progressive, education-oriented, great state to do business is in jeopardy under the heavy hands of a Republican-led General Assembly whose slash-and-burn agenda could have a devastating impact for decades.
They have sharpened their machetes in a quest for deep cuts in preschool programs, universities and public schools – while adding tax credits for private schools and rapidly expanding charter schools that siphon money from local school districts – but refuse to consider sensible ways to retain revenue while the economy recuperates. A bill that slipped quietly through committee this week would also kill the red-light program that helps prevent collisions in Wilmington and three other cities while adding money to the schools’ coffers.
They’re ready to make big concessions to corporate interests but seek to add hurdles to clear for injured or unemployed workers to receive benefits. And while they drone on about smaller government, they’re ready to spend hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, to make it harder for eligible voters to cast their ballots to solve a non-problem. It is no coincidence that the people whose voting rights will be most trampled upon by this “solution” are groups that tend to skew Democratic.
Some of these new “leaders” look to score short-term political points while failing to talk about the effect of hacking away at some of the programs that helped North Carolina become one of the nation’s most desired places to live, work and do business. This isn’t about austerity but about an ideological drive to cut government without considering the longterm costs to the state in terms of workforce readiness, economic development, deep socioeconomic divides, crime, poverty and environmental degradation.
The realists among them are willing to talk about reasonable compromise, but the line in the sand still looks too firm.
The governor, the General Assembly and most North Carolinians understand that some cuts must come. The recession and lagging recovery have slowed growth, put people out of work and dried up revenue that for a number of years was flowing in with the tide of new businesses and residents. Throwing a lot more people out of work – the inevitable result of most of the cuts being contemplated – will not help put the economy back on its feet.
But there is a point at which the bleeding is so great that the patient will become sicker, weaker and eventually die. That must not be allowed to happen to North Carolina. Outside our boundaries, the state enjoys a stellar reputation because of our attention to building up our schools, diversifying our economic base, preserving our vast environmental resources and protecting our most vulnerable residents.
The GOP has refused to consider extending $1.3 billion in temporary sales and income taxes to help close the budget gap, now estimated at around $2.4 billion. That is a prudent approach, given that it does not involve increasing taxes on anyone. They won’t add to anyone’s burden, but they could prevent damaging cuts that threaten to compromise North Carolina’s position as a progress-driven state.
Let the sun set on those temporary taxes after the economy has sufficiently recovered. There are positive signs in that direction, but in the meantime we mustn’t sabotage the health of our state.
They’re ready to make big concessions to corporate interests but seek to add hurdles to clear for injured or unemployed workers to receive benefits. And while they drone on about smaller government, they’re ready to spend hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, to make it harder for eligible voters to cast their ballots to solve a non-problem. It is no coincidence that the people whose voting rights will be most trampled upon by this “solution” are groups that tend to skew Democratic.
Some of these new “leaders” look to score short-term political points while failing to talk about the effect of hacking away at some of the programs that helped North Carolina become one of the nation’s most desired places to live, work and do business. This isn’t about austerity but about an ideological drive to cut government without considering the longterm costs to the state in terms of workforce readiness, economic development, deep socioeconomic divides, crime, poverty and environmental degradation.
The realists among them are willing to talk about reasonable compromise, but the line in the sand still looks too firm.
The governor, the General Assembly and most North Carolinians understand that some cuts must come. The recession and lagging recovery have slowed growth, put people out of work and dried up revenue that for a number of years was flowing in with the tide of new businesses and residents. Throwing a lot more people out of work – the inevitable result of most of the cuts being contemplated – will not help put the economy back on its feet.
But there is a point at which the bleeding is so great that the patient will become sicker, weaker and eventually die. That must not be allowed to happen to North Carolina. Outside our boundaries, the state enjoys a stellar reputation because of our attention to building up our schools, diversifying our economic base, preserving our vast environmental resources and protecting our most vulnerable residents.
The GOP has refused to consider extending $1.3 billion in temporary sales and income taxes to help close the budget gap, now estimated at around $2.4 billion. That is a prudent approach, given that it does not involve increasing taxes on anyone. They won’t add to anyone’s burden, but they could prevent damaging cuts that threaten to compromise North Carolina’s position as a progress-driven state.
Let the sun set on those temporary taxes after the economy has sufficiently recovered. There are positive signs in that direction, but in the meantime we mustn’t sabotage the health of our state.
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