It is six weeks overdue and laden with new spending, new taxes, and
the extension of taxes. Thursday night a $17.2 billion state budget
passed the Senate and now awaits Governor Easley’s signature.
Throughout the week, John Hood was a key source to media, providing
perspective on negotiations over taxes, the lottery and more.
Interviews included WRAL-TV and WLFL-TV in the Triangle, WFAE-FM and
the Charlotte Observer in the Queen City, the Associated Press, the Greensboro News & Record, and the Wilmington Star-News.
Roy Cordato took on the satellite TV tax for a WTVD-TV budget story. He
pointed out these types of taxes (satellite, cable and phone) are
attractive to legislators because many taxpayers fail to notice them on
their bills. Joe Coletti was on the air as well this week, discussing
with WTKF’s Lockwood Phillips the areas of extravagant or inappropriate
spending and the proposed spending cap, which was blown out of the
water by this budget. He and JLF were also referenced in a story about
North Carolina’s taxing trends that was published on the web site of
the Heartland Institute. On WPTF’s “Morning News with Kevin Miller,”
Donna Martinez told listeners the budget quagmire illustrates the need
for session limits and/or a date-certain end for legislator pay.
Finally, a Budget