Republicans took control over the North Carolina General Assembly in 2011 and have held a majority in both houses since. In keeping with conservative ideals, many reforms were passed to increase efficiency in government and save the taxpayers money. Of the reforms in 2011, some of the most successful ones included tax code changes, regulatory reform, and changes in the regulations around tort and workers’ compensation.
In the years since, the General Assembly has continued to fix the problems with the tax code and provide more common sense regulations while removing ones that are outdated. For a more detailed look at regulatory reform, see this Spotlight report from the John Locke Foundation.
In regards to tax reform, the General Assembly made some huge strides in 2013 in continuing to provide benefits to all taxpayers by simplifying a broken system. You can see these savings below:
Source: JLF Agenda 2014
Regulatory and tax reforms have been incredibly successful, but now it is time to re-examine other government programs to see where, if anywhere, we can continue to improve. As mentioned earlier, there were significant changes made to tort and workers’ compensation policies in 2011 (see links for specifics on those changes). But are there areas where legislators can improve those policies more? Are there people who are still finding ways to take advantage of the system and your money? These are the questions the General Assembly should answer, and if there are ways to fix the policies, they should act on them.
