George Will‘s latest Newsweek column starts with this:
Tap a typical democratic member of the House of Representatives on
the knee with a rubber hammer and he or she will say: “Tax the rich!”
If such a person, lounging in a lawn chair, is startled from a summer
torpor by a cymbal crash, he or she will leap up exclaiming: “Tax the
rich!” Forgive such people; they cannot help themselves. It is a reflex.But
people with only one idea really have no idea; they have only a mental
default position. So, last week the House decided to solve the problem
of finding $1 trillion for health care by increasing taxes on the
income of the 1.4 percent of taxpayers who already pay 45.2 percent of
the income taxes. …
When Will says “people with only one idea really have no idea,” he’s not talking about the people trying to decide how to balance revenues and expenses in North Carolina’s budget. But the notion fits this state’s predicament pretty well.
As John Hood notes today:
During the 2001-02 recession, then-Gov. Mike Easley and the Democratic
legislature raised sales and income taxes, weakening North Carolina?s
economic recovery. Now, faced with another recession, Gov. Beverly
Perdue and the Democratic legislature are about to, well, raise sales
and income taxes, weakening North Carolina?s economic recovery.
