North Carolina Republicans’ plan to cut taxes for corporations instead of investing in our public schools and state services threaten our public institutions and is taking our state down a “reckless path” according to a new editorial. For years, Republicans have underfunded education and critical services North Carolinians rely on and now they’ve left schools, state agencies, and courts understaffed and teacher and state employee pay falling behind inflation.

North Carolinians are tired of bearing the cost of Republicans’ dangerous economic plan that only benefits those at the top, plummets North Carolina’s K-12 standing, and fails to invest in our economic future.

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The News and Observer:  Republicans’ tax-cut fever has hurt NC. Now they want to cut more

• Since Republicans began aggressively cutting taxes in 2013, the state has lost billions of dollars in revenue. The effects are showing up in high vacancy rates in state agencies and the courts as state employees’ pay has lost ground to inflation.

• Legislation responding to the pandemic and in support of infrastructure work and clean energy transition have provided billions of dollars to the states. That revenue has temporarily masked how negligent the legislature has been in meeting the state’s basic obligations, let alone providing for its future.

• The tax cuts cost the state billions of dollars in lost revenue annually. Additional tax cuts that will take effect this year will reduce state tax revenue by $1.7 billion more. Imagine what that amount could do to increase teacher pay or lower tuition at North Carolina’s public universities or provide more support for mental health care.

• The surge in federal funding will not last, but more tax cuts are coming. The state corporate tax has fallen from 6.9 percent to 2.5 percent and will be phased out by 2030. The personal income tax has been stepped down from a two-tier progressive tax with a top rate of 7.75 percent to a flat tax of 4.75 percent today.

• “There’s this pursuit of zero income taxes without the acknowledgment that they will need to find dollars elsewhere and the place they will look to is the sales tax.”