general assembly

Concerned people on both sides of the aisle have been up in arms about corporate incentives ever since the Great Goodyear Giveaway by our "business-friendly" General Assembly this summer. Out-negotiated and out-maneuvered by a bunch of corporate lawyers, the legislature, with Mike Easley's eventual blessing, gave away the store in a stunning display of short-sightedness.

In the wake of the debacle, many of us worried that this would be just the beginning of a slide into never-ending corporate welfare, but little did we know that Goodyear itself would soon be extorting even more money from North Carolina taxpayers.

In September, Goodyear Tire & Rubber won as much as $40 million in state incentives to stay in Fayetteville. Now a lawmaker is proposing that North Carolina help lower the company's shipping costs, too.

Following up on my overview blog post about results from 11 Statewide Regional Town meetings of the NC Democratic Party, here is the package of resolutions to be considered at Saturday's (Aug 25, 2007) State Executive Committee meeting in Greensboro. Please see my prior BlueNC post for more information about what is on the minds of Democrats statewide.

THREATS TO -- Senate Bill 3, Promote Renewable Energy/Baseload Generation, has been referred to the House Energy and Energy Efficiency Comm. We should support this legislation which increases the use of renewable sources of energy, which is how S 3 started out. However,because it now also encourages the use of fossil fuels...

They're at it again. The liberal commies in North Carolina are all up in arms again about poor old poor people. The Winston Salem Journal, via the Associated Press, has the story

Dozens of anti-poverty and special interest groups urged budget negotiators Tuesday to keep in place two "temporary" taxes, approve a tax credit for low-income residents and spend more on education, health and environmental programs.

"We urge lawmakers to adopt a progressive, forward-looking and fiscally responsible state budget. It's what we call a 'can-do' budget that aggressively engages the problems confronting the people of our state, particularly the most vulnerable," Bill Rowe with the N.C. Justice Center said at a Legislative Building news conference.

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Coalition members sent a letter to most House and Senate members asking them to keep in place what's left of two taxes first approved in 2001 _ a quarter-cent increase on the sales tax and a higher income tax rate for the state's highest wage earners. The Senate wants the taxes to expire, saying they've been on the books long enough. But House Democrats want them kept on, leaving the sales tax at 6.75 percent and an 8 percent income tax bracket in place until 2009.

Been on the books long enough? What the heck does that mean? The real question should be: How long has POVERTY been on the books? These temporary taxes shouldn't be repealed they should be made permanent. And Joe Hackney should start the negotiations by saying he wants to raise the tax on the highest wage earners by another half percent.