Protesters Send Raleigh Anti-Tax Message

Speakers at a Winston-Salem rally yesterday called on elected officials to reduce government spending and reject any proposal to raise taxes to meet the state’s budget crisis.

“Our government is too big, and it costs too much,” said John Hood, the president of the John Locke Foundation. “It is time for politicians we elect to stop blaming us for their mistakes.”

Nearly 100 people gathered for the “Tar Heel Tea Party,” a rally in Corpening Plaza sponsored by The Locke Foundation and Citizens for a Sound Economy.

People in the crowd held up signs with such slogans as “No More Taxes,” “Quit Wasting Our Money” and “Caution: Money Grab Ahead, Watch Your Wallet.”

They repeatedly yelled, “No new taxes!”

The groups will rally again Wednesday in Wilmington and next Monday in Raleigh.

The rally took place with the state facing its worst budget crisis –a projected $900 million to $2 billion shortfall. The General Assembly will convene May 28, but some legislators and Gov. Mike Easley are already proposing ways to make up the deficit.

In his speech, Hood said that federal, state and local taxes account for one-third of employees’ income. North Carolina has the highest tax rate in the Southeast and one of the highest tax rates in the nation, Hood said.

“Politicians have their hands in your pockets,” he said.

After he spoke, Hood discounted published reports from Raleigh that said some legislators have rejected calls to raise taxes.

Hood said that legislators and Easley would seriously consider raising taxes again this year. In 2001, legislators raised taxes by more than $1 billion over two years.

Easley has not suggested raising taxes this session to deal with shortfall, and legislators have said that they don’t intend to raise taxes.

“It’s just not a popular thing to do and (legislative) leadership’s committed that there won’t be a tax increase,” said Rep. Gregg Thompson, R-Mitchell.

Thompson is a co-chairman of the House budget committee.

Jonathan Hill, the state director of the Citizens for a Sound Economy, told the crowd that county officials might increase property taxes to make up for the $209 million in tax reimbursements that Easley withheld this year from local governments.

Easley is keeping that money as a safeguard against the state’s deficit.

Hill suggested that state officials cut unfilled state jobs to save money and put some of the tobacco-settlement money into the state’s general fund.

“We have a spending crisis,” Hill said. “They (legislators) are addicted to spending your money.”