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Demanding transparency and fairness: North Carolina’s budget process needs reform
North Carolina House and Senate spending plans released last week show we can’t fix the big problems we face in our state without asking the wealthy and profitable corporations to pay what they owe in taxes. Low rates on the income taxes paid by wealthy individuals and profitable corporations mean billions of fewer dollars for […]
US Senate should okay a simple and effective proposal to slash child poverty
The U.S. Senate has a crucial opportunity to expand the highly successful Child Tax Credit (CTC) by adopting the bipartisan tax bill that recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives with overwhelming support. The CTC expansion in the tax bill would provide much needed resources for 16 million U.S. children in working families with low […]
Research shows how and why NC elections are underfunded
Across North Carolina early voting is in full swing and voters are heading to the polls. How long the wait lines are, how many sites are open, and what machines voters use (along with unseen work outside of voting season to support voter databases and support candidate filing processes) all depend on funding. North Carolina […]
Three numbers that illustrate the folly of North Carolina’s latest austerity budget
North Carolina’s final budget includes deep personal income tax cuts and elimination of the corporate income tax over the next 10 years that will deepen hardship and prolong the recovery rather than supporting people and their well-being. Sadly, rather than invest the state’s available billions in meeting basic near- and long-term needs, lawmakers chose to […]
Recent legislative action will further undermine the health of state’s unemployment insurance system
As the 2021 session of the North Carolina General Assembly draws to a close, legislative leaders should be taking action to strengthen the state’s inadequate and miserly unemployment insurance system. Unfortunately, they are pursuing precisely the opposite course. Recently, in fact, they added an amendment to an unrelated bill that will block modest scheduled increases […]
Elimination of the corporate income tax will hurt North Carolina
More than 60 percent of North Carolinians oppose eliminating the corporate income tax. In fact, most North Carolinians want to see profitable corporations contribute what they owe to ensure we can fund a better future for people across our state. As the final state budget nears completion, legislative leaders and the Governor should listen to […]
Build Back Better framework represents historic opportunity to improve the lives of North Carolinians
NOTE: The Build Back Better framework released last week is currently being crafted into legislation and changes to the scope and scale will be updated or linked to at the top of this post. The Build Back Better framework released last week by the White House is a chance to take a huge step forward […]
Without a change of course, the NC legislature is setting us up for perpetual fiscal crisis
Lawmakers are set to squander the opportunity provided by federal COVID-19 relief The leadership of the North Carolina General Assembly is ready to undercut the power of state aid from the American Rescue Plan by continuing its relentless pursuit of income tax reductions to the tune of at least $2 billion or, much more likely, […]
U.S. senators propose long overdue unemployment insurance reform
U.I. Improvement Act would be a down payment on improving the nation’s system of jobless benefits — especially in states like North Carolina This week, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, Michael Bennet and Sherrod Brown introduced legislation that would take some important first steps toward a building better federal-state unemployment insurance system for workers, businesses and […]
Data reveal a big error in how NC has pursued economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession
Tying economic life support to employment equity goals would be better for all A new report from the Economic Policy Institute shows that the cutoff of federal unemployment insurance will reduce incomes and curtail spending, further increasing hardship and likely slowing the progress toward a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic downturn. In North Carolina, […]
NC needs to make sure every eligible family receives the expanded Child Tax Credit
National analysis conducted by the Census Bureau shows that the first payment to families of the temporary and expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) worked to bring down challenges with paying for household expenses and reduced food insecurity. This builds upon the solid foundation of research that cash income matters in households — and households with […]
NC House tax plan isn’t good for our state (and these graphs explain why this is the case)
The N.C. House tax plan would continue to reduce income tax rates even as economic hardship persists and real, sustained investments will be required to ensure that the state and every community can thrive. The plan reviewed in the House Finance committee Monday afternoon would reduce the state’s flat income tax rate to 4.99 percent […]