(joint press release with the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center)
(Thursday, April 18) — This Tax Day, North Carolinians across the state are demanding that policymakers prioritize families, communities, and our state’s well-being, not rigged taxes for the wealthy and profitable corporations.
North Carolinians overwhelmingly agree that ensuring working families and local businesses have what they need is more effective in supporting the economy than tax cuts for corporations. Just 9 percent of North Carolinians strongly support the move to eliminate the corporate income tax.
3 out of 4 North Carolinians support raising income taxes on millionaires, an approach in direct contrast to the pursuit of further income tax cuts that have primarily benefited the richest 1 percent in North Carolina.
A decade of income tax cuts has undermined our ability to secure well-being and opportunity for all North Carolinians, regardless of income, race or geography.
— Tax cuts have failed to reverse North Carolina’s declining employment levels.
— Tax cuts left many small towns and rural communities out in the cold.
We need public funds for schools, health care, transportation, and to protect our environment — all of which make our communities safer and support families and our economy.
Instead of putting public funds to people’s priorities, we’re getting a tax system rigged for the wealthy and out-of-state corporations. And now, leaders in the House and Senate are pushing to tilt the system even further against families and divide us rather than take a comprehensive view of what it takes to fund a better future.
When we make the wealthy and corporations pay what they owe, we can build a great future for North Carolina’s families and communities.
Suzy Khachaturyan, Senior Policy Advocate with NC Budget & Tax Center:
“NC can drive the public dollars we have to expand access to affordable child care, fund a sound, basic education for every child, ensure all North Carolinians can access affordable health care, protect our environment, and so much more.”
Cierra Cobb, Prison and Jail Coordinator, EmancipateNC:
“EmancipateNC wants to ensure North Carolinians’ tax dollars are going towards resourceful programs that will help advance our communities instead of spending taxpayer dollars on incarceration.”
J. Sailor Jones, Associate Director, Common Cause North Carolina:
“From supporting the state officials who administer our elections to investing in systems that keep votes secure, North Carolina’s budget dictates whether our upcoming elections are free and fair and the overall health of our democracy in the process. Now is the time for lawmakers to invest in a budget that allows North Carolinians to make their voices heard on all of the issues they care about.”
Tara Romano, Executive Director, Pro-Choice North Carolina:
“While over half a million North Carolinians struggled to access quality affordable healthcare this past decade, conservative lawmakers diverted tens of millions of public healthcare dollars to unaccountable, unregulated anti-abortion centers that exist solely to deceive, intimidate, and scare people out of accessing abortion care. This year’s proposed budget from the North Carolina House is no different: Anti-abortion centers are slated to receive $11.3 million in public funds — Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship ($6.25 million), Human Coalition ($5 million), and Mountain Area Pregnancy Services ($50,000).
These funds, our taxpayer dollars, would be much better spent on proven, evidence-based programs that actually provide healthcare to North Carolinians, such as the Nurse-Family Partnership and the NC Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. The people of North Carolina deserve access to quality, comprehensive, and affordable healthcare, no matter where they live or their income level.”
Cassandra Stokes, Democracy and Economy Coordinator with NC Black Alliance:
“An uneven system of funding produces unequal outcomes and denies countless Black families the opportunity to create intergenerational wealth. As the racial income gap widens, state and local tax policies have a disparate impact on Black and Brown communities. Revenue raised from corporate taxes help create and sustain funding for education, healthcare, and combat inequality. Funding for our public post-secondary institutions, HBCUs, health care, and our electoral process is not race neutral and we must advance racial and economic equity.”
For more information, please contact Mel Umbarger, Communications & Technology Manager at NC Budget & Tax Center, at mel@ncbudget.org; or Suzy Khachaturyan, Senior Policy Advocate with NC Budget & Tax Center, at suzy@ncbudget.org.
ABOUT NC BUDGET & TAX CENTER: The NC Budget & Tax Center is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that documents fiscal and economic conditions in communities to support the work of people, organizations, and government to advance solutions to poverty and pursue racial equity.