As legislators continue to negotiate the state budget, John Hood offered Charlotte Observer
readers a lesson in the principles that should guide the state’s tax
code: simplicity, neutrality and equity. “Without clear definitions and
widely held goals, tax reform will get precisely nowhere,” he wrote.
“For one thing, we need a consensus around this proposition: Taxes
exist to raise money to fund government services. They shouldn’t be
tools to promote physical fitness, or redistribution, or environmental
exhibitionism, or to place taxpayer bets on business success.” Earlier
this month, Hood added perspective to a Charlotte World story
about a possible state lottery. He emphasized that government must
become more efficient with existing revenue. “I don’t think the
government needs more money to waste,” he said. In April, Charlotte World published Paul Chesser’s CJ
story about the House lottery bill, which passed by a 61-59 vote. In
western North Carolina on Thursday, Chad Adams teamed up with WWNC’s
Matt Mittan for a four-hour show that touched on the budget, the
lottery, and what it will take to elect people who will vote for
fiscally sound and conservative budgets. Adams reports that the phone
lines were jammed. Meantime, Joe Coletti commented to Greenville’s Daily Reflector for its story about funding for the Clean Water Trust Fund. He noted that JLF’s alternative budget — Freedom Budget 2005 —
questions this type of funding. “Some funding for clean water
management may be going to good purposes but we always feel much better
when less money is going to advocacy,” he said. Turning to the health
and human services piece of the budget, JLF adjunct fellow Dr. Mike
Walden offered his take on the debate over Medicaid to readers of the Garner Times.
The NC State economics professor noted that dueling opinions over
whether or not Medicaid recipients should be required to pay $50 when
entering a hospital represent a classic economic argument between
efficiency and equity and that the conflict will likely never be
resolved.