Give us a break

Let’s have more “tax breaks”—if all taxpayers get them.

An Associated Press story printed in the Wilmington StarNews (June 4, 2012), titled “Tax break for businesses costs $336 M in N.C.,” tells that 460,000 business owners “save about $3500 on their state taxes.” Good news; that’s $336 million state government doesn’t take out of the economy for unproductive, often wasteful, purposes.

However, this begs the question: If these breaks “stimulate the economy” and create “jobs,” as a UNC Chapel Hill study predicts, why not reduce taxes for everyone to further stimulate the economy and create even more jobs?

Problem is that government officials have a nasty habit of selectively legislating who benefits and who doesn’t. In fairness, taxes should be reduced for all taxpayers, not just those our political class decides deserve the break more than others. For example, if tax reductions for some businesses help the economy, why not reduce or eliminate the corporate tax for all of them? Based on the same reasoning, why not reduce or eliminate the state income tax?

Lower taxes across-the-board would provide a powerful incentive for people to live and do business in North Carolina. It’s a no-brainer. Incidentally, it would preclude the use of special tax breaks (“incentives”) offered only to select groups, such as the film industry, that politicians and press editors tell us are needed to be “competitive” with other states.

Statists will argue that tax breaks “costs” government. However, conservative people know that programs and bureaucracies can do with less and still carry out necessary public services (some are unnecessary).

John Locke Foundation policy analyst Joseph Coletti has some thoughtful and worthwhile recommendations that, if implemented, would give us all a break from the high state tax burden now imposed, while helping to make this state more government-friendly and productive. (link)

City To Raise Taxes, But Has An Extra $60k To Give Away Downtown

It is disturbing that the city council, which is supposed to be dedicated to ALL of Wilmington, spends a disproportionate amount of time focused on downtown ONLY.  Once again, they’ve proven this by giving away another pool of taxpayer dollars.

(WWAY) Council will discuss a request tonight to allocate $60,000 from the city’s parking fund to the Downtown Marketing Task Force The money would be used to help fund a downtown marketing campaign.

Late last year, the city’s parking fund was short some $800,000. While the city voted in April not to extend the hours on downtown parking meters, it did vote to to change the 90 minute grace period of the parking decks on 2nd Street and Market Street to 60 minutes. It also changed the deck fee for festival and event parking from $5 to $7.

C’mon, it’s just getting ridiculous.  Hundreds of thousands to consultants, tends of thousands to non-profits, tens of thousands for favorite projects and yet the city is short police officers and fire personnel while explaining that taxes are going up due to neglected infrastructure.  This isn’t leadership, this is simply reactionary government.  No serious questions for city manager Sterling Cheatham from the media, one doubts we’ll ever see any.