Lots editorializing going on about the N.C. Senate’s $20.5 billion budget, which is short the mere sum of $500 million.
The Winston-Salem Journal comes up with this howler, saying with a straight face that the “legislature has scrambled to raise adequate revenues even when the economy has been healthy.” No kidding. But when the Journal goes looking for answers as to exactly why that is, they come up with this high-minded conclusion: “North Carolina’s mid-20th-century tax system will not work in a 21st century economy.” Do I need to tell you that’s a fancy way of saying we need more taxes?
Meanwhile, the N&R’s Doug Clark follows up Saturday’s lead editorial describing the Senate as a “well-oiled machine carrying out the dictates of a few key leaders.”
Clark goes on:
A few protests are raised. Editorial writers regularly decry the secrecy, and political outsiders complain. Sen. Phil Berger, the Republican leader, wrote this even before the fact: “Expect legislators to commit to tax hikes without knowing which taxes are being raised. Like their national counterparts, North Carolina’s Senate Democrats talk a lot about bipartisanship, open government and transparency but their actions speak far louder than words.”
Clark also quotes Rep. Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth, who said that “North Carolina budget-writers are like a driver who pushes the pedal all the way down in good years, then slams on the brakes in lean years.”
Exposing this is all fine and good, but —- considering the fact that the Senate didn’t get this way overnight—- I can’t help but think about exactly who was in driver’s seat of this “well-oiled machine” for many years before moving on to bigger and better things.
