NC Budget Passes --- at last | Eastern North Carolina Now

    After months of wrangling us taxpayers now know how our money is to be spent and collected. The State is under a Conservative Majority in the Legislature and a former Lobbyist for Duke Energy in the Mansion. No one can blame Democrats when they were by-passed along the way of the budget formation.

    Eastern NC's largest and most read paper prints this.

    The summation of the article main points says:

          •  "In reality, it is the ongoing pursuit of more income tax cuts over making sure all our communities are whole that frames the budget debate. It is this pursuit of additional income tax cuts that also shifts the costs to North Carolina taxpayers in the form of rising fees and greater reliance on the sales tax, which increases the tax load for middle- and low-income taxpayers.

          •  There is growing bipartisan recognition that a cuts-only approach isn't working, that in fact our shared investments are needed to support quality schools, transportation, safe communities and other building blocks of widely shared prosperity.

          •  The most damaging truth in the final budget debate is that the state budget, a document that sets out our shared priorities for the next two years, is increasingly about protecting a few rather than serving many."

    I was in a meeting recently where average taxpayers shared their stories of the taxes paid since the Conservative mantra changed our State Tax Code. We have been told over and over that the Conservative philosophy is to save us from paying more taxes. The reality is the opposite:

          •  Each speaker reported paying a higher tax under Conservative codes.

          •  The cause of this situation is the LOSS OF DEDUCTIONS.

          •  As a Small Business Owner I no longer have the $50,000 credit for new equipment---HOWEVER the rich have a big one for their private jet purchases.

          •  All who expected a big refund got a pittance this last year of the code.

    If you are going to make the changes promised in all the speeches to get elected, then DO WHAT YOU PROMISED! An empty promise is called a LIE in all the circles I inhabit.

    Lest you want to say I am lying, then simply examine your State Income Tax form and compare over the last 4 years each one you did. The statute of limitations requires we keep 7 years of past tax files, should anyone be audited . . .

    THE MOST IMPORTANT GOVERNMENT IS THAT WHICH IS LOCAL IN BEAUFORT COUNTY AND NC, FOLKS!