MEDIA RELEASE: Statement on Senate Budget Proposal from Alexandra Sirota, Budget & Tax Center

RALEIGH (May 31, 2016) — The Senate seems to have taken the most extreme approach to the state budget yet, putting forward a proposal that fails to meet community and family needs and holds our state back from a brighter future.

While we have yet to see the full details, it is very likely that the Senate has once again cut core public services in order to facilitate a new round of income tax cuts that cost $200 million—nearly half the cost of their teacher pay plan. These cuts are just one more blow in the year after year onslaught on public institutions as the Senate continues their commitment to flawed economic theories that aren’t helping our communities or our economy.

The Senate is irresponsible at best in pledging commitments to North Carolinians’ priorities today without ensuring that the state can continue to prioritize them in future years. They believe that North Carolinians won’t figure out that they have sacrificed our state’s future at the altar of tax cuts.

The reality is that North Carolinians know that the path to a better future is built on the middle ground through shared commitment to good schools, protection of air and water quality, support for main street development and other building blocks of a strong economy and healthy community. The House must reject the Senate’s flawed approach and get much closer to meeting the needs and priorities of North Carolinians across the state.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT Alexandra F. Sirota, Director of the Budget & Tax Center at the NC Justice Center, 919-861-1468, alexandra@ncjustice.org.