It could be worse. How’s that for insightful analysis of the state budget deal from the Uptown paper of record? But there is even less than meets the eye underneath this cant. The proof comes in this graf:
The overall spending package, which includes about $1 billion in federal recovery money, will bring the state budget to about $20 billion. That’s remarkable in a severe recession. While the budget will include a number of spending cuts, it’s not that far from the pre-recession budget of $21.5 billion.
Exactly. As a result, it is hard to imagine anything worse for North Carolina’s taxpayers than this budget. As we pointed out long ago, the ongoing criminal conspiracy in Raleigh long ago decided it had to spend $20b., how it got the cash was immaterial. Not unlike a crack addict, eh? And with this precedent set, expect more of the same in coming years as the economy sputters along into 2010 and perhaps beyond.
For all the supposed “complexity” of the state budget, there was really only one choice: Who was gonna pay for a decade of free-spending, the oligarchs or the taxpayers? In retrospect, it wasn’t even a contest. The income tax surcharge proves it. The surcharge is both a direct tax hike on the middle-class and a job-killing tax on small business. Charlotte-area businesses in particular would be insane not to consider moving to South Carolina as a result.
Not widely understood — wonder why, O wise keepers of Journalism’s Unbiased Flame — is that the 3 percent surcharge on business income is levied on state tax liability, not profits or revenue. As a result, you show a state tax liability of $15,000 that’s another $450 you owe off the top. Given the small profit margins of many small businesses such a scheme is punitive.
But don’t worry. It could be worse.
