John Locke Updates: Spending & Taxes

Large majorities of North Carolina voters support enshrining additional rights and responsibilities in the state constitution in the latest polling by the Civitas Institute. Three-quarters of respondents said people should…

Let’s just be really clear about the Build NC Bonds proposal to borrow $3 billion for roads making its way, in different forms, through the North Carolina House and Senate:…

Unphased by the recent teacher walkout, Republican lawmakers continue to invest in their policy priorities, including a fifth consecutive raise for teachers, raises for principals, expanded performance pay programs, new…

If money talks, then the state budget has a lot to say about education, health care, and public safety in North Carolina. These three areas take $21.9 billion of the…

Last June, the N.C. General Assembly passed the Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Act which raised the age of juvenile jurisdiction in North Carolina to include 16- and 17-year-olds. As…

The proposed new state budget would not expand the state’s overall film grant program this year. That’s the good news. The bad news is, the new state budget…

Imagine you are a middle school student called on stage in front of 75 of your friends and peers. Your teacher offers you a piece of chocolate cake but, in…

Gov. Roy Cooper’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2018-19 [1] would spend $1.5 billion more than the current year, raise taxes, divert millions in other funds, increase dependence…

North Carolina’s corporate income tax currently stands at 3 percent, and it is scheduled to be reduced to 2.5 percent in January. This is after annual reductions in the rate,…

Try as I might, I can’t see the wisdom behind this proposed “transformative” projects expansion. I can’t. It’s terrible. For as long as I can remember, governors have tried…