Spending & Taxes

Cooper's corporate welfare tally for 2020 is jaw-dropping: $519.3 million pledged to just 48 corporations. Supposedly that would lead to 11,600 new jobs, which is only about one-nineteenth the number of jobs destroyed in a year (222,300).

Citing "mediocre" transportation infrastructure, a report from a state government commission wants North Carolina to increase transportation spending by 40 percent over the next decade. To critics, it sounds like another taxpayer bailout of a poorly run state agency.

North Carolina state government continued to have strong finances seven months after the economy first began to slow in March. Budget writers should nevertheless be cautious about adding spending commitments, however.

Back in September, a survey of Raleigh businesses conducted by Shop Local Raleigh found that 60 percent of small businesses in Raleigh were threatened with closure. That same month…

As Milton Friedman often remarked, the bill always comes due. Today’s spending must be paid by taxes, regardless whether those taxes were collected in the past, are collected this year, or will be collected in the future.

The middle of an economic and public health crisis, when people are worried if they will still have work in December and the federal budget deficit is in excess of…

Repealing the state's law against collective bargaining for public-sector employees would increase state government spending by between $889 million and $1.32 billion — a cost of $84.75 to $126.03 for each North Carolinian and a decrease in state gross domestic product.

Jen Mangrum made it clear that doing "what's best for all our kids" includes slashing the number of charter schools. During the forum, Mangrum reiterated her longstanding belief that charter schools are taking funds from traditional public schools. Her preferred remedy is reinstating a cap on the number of charters.

According to a new study conducted by the John Locke Foundation, Medicaid expansion in North Carolina would leave a funding gap between $119.3 million to $171.3 million in the first year alone.

What is going on? Isn't Cooper supposed to be a staunch opponent of corporate tax breaks? Why is he pledging millions of dollars of state money to corporations, and why so much to so few?