REFORM HELPS MORE PEOPLE THAN INSULTS

Triangle Business Journal recently reported dramatic improvement in North Carolina’s tax climate for doing business in the Tax Foundation’s national ranking. “According the foundation’s index, North Carolina jumped 28 spots from ranking 44th this past year to 16th this year. North Carolina tax policies implemented this past year reduced individual income taxes from 7.75 percent to 5.8 percent and reduced the corporate tax rate from 6.9 percent to 6 percent, and could be reduced further depending on the state’s balance sheet in coming years. The standard tax deduction was also increased for individuals.

The 28-spot jump is the largest jump in the history of the Tax Foundation index’s history, according to Forbes, and no other state moved more than five spots this year”

This better climate for starting or expanding an enterprise translates into more jobs and higher income growth in North Carolina , compared to the region and the nation, after years of underperformance.

New economic data confirms the trend. “Since the enactment of the new Republican-led legislature’s first budget, tax, and regulatory policies in mid-2011, North Carolina has added some 252,700 net new jobs,” Hood said. “That employment gain from June 2011 to September 2014 amounts to a growth rate of 6.5 percent. Again, this is higher than the national (5.8 percent) and regional (4.8 percent) averages.”

Other economic measures confirm the trend, Hood said. “From 2011 to 2013, North Carolina’s gross domestic product grew by an annual rate of 2.4 percent in inflation-adjusted terms, higher than the national (2.2 percent) and regional (1.8 percent) averages,” he said. “During the same period, per-capita incomes rose 2.9 percent in North Carolina, 2.8 percent in the nation as a whole, and 2.3 percent in the Southeast as a whole.”

Beginning around 2000,North Carolina’s economy lagged badly behind our neighboring states and trailed the nation. 

Despite repeated tax increases under Governor Easley and Governor Perdue or perhaps because of them , our deteriorating economy couldn’t generate the revenue to sustain an oversized government. In 2010,voters rebelled, electing a New Conservative Legislature that faced a $2.5 billion deficit in the General Fund, another $2.6 billion debt in the Unemployment Insurance Fund and a job killing tax code.

The New Conservative Majority made tough decisions to balance the budget, reduce debt, streamline regulations and create a competitive tax climate. And now our economy is outperforming.

The forces of big government, reactionary liberalism are fighting against change every step of the way, not with ideas but with angry words. One union leader attacked ”the most backward legislature in America ”. 

Only they can’t argue the facts. North Carolina’s economy is getting back on track and growing faster than the nation or the region because now we have sound economic policies in place. We’re coming back from a decade of top down, big government mismanagement that gave us stagnation.

We won’t enjoy a boom until the Obama Administration gets out of the way and reform takes hold in Washington. Because North Carolina is proving reform helps people help themselves with jobs.