A state budget built by a hammer

Editorial by The Fayetteville Observer, June 27, 2017.

Watching what passes for state government in North Carolina these days can be discouraging. This week, it’s downright disheartening.

We’re watching a choreographed performance in Raleigh, with a certain outcome. We’re watching a General Assembly whose leaders wield power like a hammer, driving intensely political nails. (In this regard, they’re not altogether different from the Democrats who ruled the Legislative Building not so long ago. The GOP lawmakers learned their lessons well.)

This week, Gov. Roy Cooper will be the nail. He’ll survive it, but good governance may not. Come to think of it, good governance disappeared quite some time ago — to qualify, the system needs to have the best interests of all the people at heart and lawmakers need to discuss issues, debate them and find common ground.

The Kabuki Theater performance this week in Raleigh has none of those elements. Lawmakers passed the budget that was entirely conceived and delivered by a handful of Republican legislators, and they sent it to the governor. The governor vetoed it. When he sent it back to the General Assembly, the veto was overridden swiftly. And if we’re lucky, the General Assembly will then adjourn. We’ve seen more than enough hyper-partisan warfare for one year, thank you.

For his part, the governor put a few negotiating points on the table that actually have merit. Cooper said he’d sign the budget, despite overall misgivings, if the General Assembly would do these things:

•Eliminate the budget’s needlessly generous cut in the corporate tax rate and limit the cut in the individual income tax to people making less than $150,000 a year. He also wants to add a childcare tax credit.

•Fully fund raises for all teachers, including starters and veteran educators, and set aside more money for school support personnel and classroom supplies.

•Add money to expand broadband internet access in rural areas.

•Phase out “Opportunity Scholarships.”

That last item is a non-starter for sure. The scholarships — tuition vouchers that help lower-income children attend private schools — are extremely popular, and the state’s highest court has ruled they are constitutional. We have misgivings about the scholarships’ lack of accountability and oversight of private schools, but those are legislative tweaks.

But the rest of the governor’s conditions for signing the budget are completely reasonable and economically feasible. There is simply no good reason for cutting the corporate tax rate any further. At 3 percent, it is already the lowest in the country. Most of our competitors in economic development have corporate tax rates of 5 percent, and up. We’re giving away money instead of reinvesting it in our schools, which have been buffeted by years of cuts so deep that they have taken a toll on the quality of education. Our teachers are still far below the national median in pay, a position they held before the recession. And most Republican lawmakers appear to agree that rural broadband expansion is the best way to lift the economies of our struggling rural counties. Why not put more money where their mouths are?

There’s a good deal that could be cut here between our Republican legislative leaders and our Democratic governor. It would serve all the people of this state.

But it appears Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore would rather be hammers. And their short-sighted adventure in brute-force politics is turning most North Carolina residents into their nails.

http://www.fayobserver.com/opinion/20170627/our-view-state-budget-built-by-hammer