Spending & Taxes

By now you know the major points of the state budget: it spends $23 billion in the first year and $23.6 billion in the second year, reduces the tax rates…

It is easy to become complacent, to think that things now are as they always have been and always will be. But as Heraclitus and Disney’s Pocahontas both remind us,…

A progressive tax system is based on the premise that it is a moral imperative for government to tax people at increasingly higher rates as their incomes go up.  The…

Pay for teachers and other state employees has generated headlines in news coverage of the budget this year, in part because there have been no legislative salary increases in five…

How consensus-based budgeting works Most people are familiar with the concept of logrolling: accepting someone else’s proposal to get their acceptance of yours. In government, it often means more programs…

With both chambers of the General Assembly agreeing to spend $22.9 billion in the fiscal year beginning July 1, the biggest differences between their budget proposals are what to do…

A few years ago, the chief of staff for the governor of another state excitedly told his brother about the state’s new approach to contracting that made national news. “Our…

The Senate budget spends $22.9 billion, up 2.5 percent over the 2016-17 budget and 3.75 percent over actual spending.  Like Gov. Roy Cooper’s budget, it raises pay for teachers and…

Since North Carolina implemented sweeping tax reform in 2013, there has been interest in expanding North Carolina’s sales tax to include services. The idea is to transform the sales…

A criticism of Republicans at the national level has often been that they want the same thing as Democrats, just less of it. Who expected Senate President Pro Tem Phil…