Richard Moore’s stimulus plan for North Carolina, as outlined by the CharO’s Mark Johnson includes:
- two free years of community college for high school graduates (though not the 30% of students who don’t complete high school in five years and could probably use the help)
- Raising the minimum wage by $1 between 2009 and 2013. It is scheduled to rise from $6.15 an hour to $6.55 an hour in July of this year.
- Cutting seniors’ property taxes and freezing their home values so property taxes don’t force them out.
- Eliminating the waiting list for children eligible for a state child care subsidy.
- Selling $1.5 billion in transportation bonds to update the state’s roads and stimulate construction work.
Only the road bond idea makes sense. The others are schemes to transfer income from one group to another.
College tuition subsidies drive up tuition rates. George Leef and Roy Cordato have dealt with the minimum wage.
Capping property taxes for one group means others pay higher taxes, and capping them for everyone can lead governments to seek less visible methods of taxation if they don’t first control spending.
The child care subsidy’s structure effectively encourages parents to opt for the most expensive level of child care.
