June 8, 2021

Today, John Locke Foundation President Donald Bryson responded to the announcement from North Carolina legislative leaders on an agreement for the state’s biennium budget total.

John Locke Foundation President Donald Bryson said: “Legislative leaders are still working out the details for the biennium General Fund Budget, but this spending level is good news for taxpayers. Over the past 10 years, the North Carolina General Assembly has consistently maintained budget increases within the population and inflation growth constraints. In other words, legislative leaders have not let state government grow faster than the economy that supports it. That’s smart budgeting, and this spending level agreement falls within that category.”

The leaders’ budget announcement also stated, “budget writers have agreed to terms that replenish the state’s ‘Rainy Day Fund,’ significantly reduc[ing] taxes.”

Bryson continued, “To spur the North Carolina economy out of the Covid-recession, legislators should consider tax reforms that will free up capital and get people back to work. North Carolina’s corporate income tax brings in a relatively low amount of revenue but hampers wage growth and investment. This indirectly regressive tax should be on top of the chopping block, which would be consistent with years of research from the John Locke Foundation.”

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