Interesting column here. Highlight:
Meanwhile, Democratic Walter Dalton… is running against fundamental tax reform. He opposes applying the sales tax to services. He wants to make the corporate income tax even more complicated, and preserve the kind of targeted tax credits for politically favored businesses that have failed to strengthen North Carolina’s economic competitiveness.
Dalton is doing this not because he truly thinks the past 20 years of tax reform debate has been wrongheaded. He’s doing this because he is desperate, and because it is easier to scare voters with misleading rhetoric than it is to explain how the various elements of a reform package would work together to make the tax code fairer, more efficient, and less harmful to economic growth.
I doubt Dalton’s gambit will work. Even if Barack Obama wins North Carolina again, McCrory will likely be the next governor. But McCrory and legislative leaders need to keep this in mind: Tax reform is much easier said than done. That’s why it hasn’t yet been done. The interest groups that derive benefits from the current system will fight tooth and nail to preserve it. And opportunistic politicians will play along.
Please plan accordingly.
