First the good news: North Carolina state government has more than $600 million to close any budget hole this fiscal year.
Now the bad news: Revenues are $95 million less than what lawmakers projected when they passed a $19 billion budget last summer. Adding to the problems, the state’s unemployment rate [...]
I realize that budgets are tight all across America and all but I need someone to explain to me why taxes can't be raised on the rich, and only the rich for once, instead of cutting education funding. North Carolina has been run by Democrats for as long as I' [...]
In August, we were all told by the leadership of the General Assembly that $1.1 billion in tax increases were necessary in order to stave off massive, destructive cuts to “critical” state services.
Apparently we were lied to.
According to the Gov. Perdue’s budget director, the state has about $600 million [...]
The Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy is out with its new “Who Pays?” report, which examines what different income groups pay in the way of state and local taxes throughout the country. The media release below from the N.C. Budget and Tax Center summarizes the not terribly surprising [...]
This CNN report highlights another dog-bites-man story: the federal government is wasting billions of your dollars in improper payments and fraud:
The federal government made $98 billion in improper payments in fiscal 2009, and President Obama will issue an executive order in coming days to combat the problem, his budget [...]
There’s a group missing in the AP’s article this morning on higher-education funding and folks afflicted by tight budgets. See if you can guess who they are. From “Lawmakers consider college aid as state, family budgets dip”:
RALEIGH, N.C. — Families across North Carolina and state government felt the same [...]
The experts at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have a new and compelling report out on the need for additional federal fiscal relief. Here’s the gist:
“States face a serious fiscal problem that could force them to institute additional deep budget cuts and tax increases in 2010, weakening [...]
The health insurance plan for North Carolina state employees is still paying out more claims than budgeted for the first three months of the fiscal year.
Lawmakers received State Health Plan data Thursday showing paid medical claims are 4 percent higher than expected through Sept. 30. That's better compared [...]
Yesterday in his comments at the Budget & Tax Center’s legislative briefing in Fayetteville, Senator Rand said that the he has been told by legislative fiscal staff that state tax revenues are behind projections by $90 million through the end of October. In the grand scheme of things that is [...]
I just now watched part of the replay of last night’s Greensboro City Council meeting. Note the council signed off on $3.3 million to run water and sewer to sites near Piedmont Triad International Airport.
But a more interesting issue that the N&R didn’t mention —- hopefully they’ll follow [...]
Media stories and political spin about government budget “cuts” often need a translator for taxpayers to understand the true picture. It’s common practice to label something a “cut” when in reality it simply means that government is spending less on something than it had previously hoped to spend – even [...]
In response to the state’s problems with prison overcrowding and budgetary balance, the Jacksonville Daily News suggests that North Carolina do a better job of distinguishing between those offenders who must be incarcerated and those who should be handled in some other way:
As of Sept. 30, the state prison [...]
It’s pretty certain that five of North Carolina’s congressional delegation will vote for whatever budget-busting health care “reform” package that the House leadership proposes. They are Democrats David Price, Bob Etheridge, Mel Watt, Brad Miller and G.K. Butterfield. All the Republicans surely will oppose the government takeover of health care, [...]
1. The Congressional Budget Office says the House health reform bill will reduce the federal deficit by over $100 billion in first 10 years.
2. This bill shows an unprecedented degree of fiscal responsibility. Compare this to the Medicare Part D drug program passed several years ago. The costs of Medicare [...]
ASHEVILLE — From budgets to bike lanes to combating drug dealing, priorities listed by City Council candidates covered a wide range as their campaigns hit the final stretch.
Though candidates listed few common top priorities, both Smith and Manheimer mentioned transportation, with Smith talking about affordable housing, but also the need [...]
To balance its budget after state cuts, UNCA funded administrative positions with student activity fees. This is in violation of the UNC Policy Manual. UNCA officials would not cooperate with a request from the student newspaper to divulge how many administrative positions were funded by student fees. Legal counsel [...]
Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger said this week that any overhaul of the state tax system ought to include some arbitrary limits on the state budget, like tying spending to inflation or population growth.
That’s the principle behind the misnamed Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) that is high [...]
Today’s WSJ shows why nobody should believe the claims of health care “reform” advocates stating that their (latest) plan will somehow “save” $81 billion over the next ten years.
Washington has just run a $1.4 trillion budget deficit for fiscal 2009, even as we are told a new health-care entitlement will [...]
