Tax debate heats up at the Legislature

The no tax crowd and the no cuts crowd flooded the halls of the Legislature on Wednesday, weighing in again for another day on the debate over the state’s budget.

For the second straight week, advocates streamed to the state capital to let lawmakers know what they think.

On one side of the Legislative Building, they chanted, “No new taxes.” On the other side, children sang while their parents urged lawmakers to avoid cuts to the Smart Start child care initiative.

“To them, we cannot say tomorrow, because their day is today,” Smart Start advocate Flo Thompson said referring to the children in the crowd of about 300.

But at a rally sponsored by the anti-tax group Citizens for a Sound Economy, people talked about reducing the size of government.

“We’ve got plenty of money. We’ve got too many programs,” former U.S. Sen. Lauch Faircloth told about 400 members of the group.

The rallies were the latest in a series of gatherings by groups trying to influence the budget debate at the Legislature.

Lawmakers are grappling with the worst budget crisis in a decade, largely the result of slowing tax collections in a soft economy. Without additional revenue, they will have to cut more than $1 billion from the second year of the two-year budget they approved last year.

A year after they raised taxes by $620 million, some legislators are pushing the idea of alcohol or cigarette tax increases as a way to make up some of the deficit.

Gov. Mike Easley has proposed a lottery, which he estimates could raise $250 million next year, as a way to help fill the hole.

Faircloth said the state needs to end wasteful spending, not adopt a lottery.

“They say it will make money. Well, the prisons are full of people who found a quick way to make money,” Faircloth said.

Organizers said buses in mountain counties had loaded up well before dawn to come to the anti-tax rally.

Royce Wilson of Yancey County said he wanted legislators to know what he thought of new stream buffer rules, as well as tax increases.

“If they would cut out some of this pork barrel stuff, they wouldn’t have to raise taxes,” Wilson said.

His sentiments weren’t shared by the Smart Start crowd.

“Cuts to children do not heal. Look at what we might lose,” said Julie Rehder, who oversees an early childhood program in Wake County.

The $210 million Smart Start program would suffer a 7 percent cut from the budget approved last year under Easley’s spending plan. That’s about 3.5 percent, or $8 million, less than the program is receiving this year.

Smart Start, begun by former Gov. Jim Hunt, provides money to subsidize day care for about 60,000 poor children in the state. It also provides money for health screenings and some equipment for many day care centers in the state. The amount of grants and subsidies are tied to the education level of staff and developmental programs at each center.

Karen Ponder, head of the N.C. Partnership for Children which oversees the program for the state, pointed out the program is still only fully funded in about half the counties in the state.

“In a state that has so many resources, it’s not OK that we don’t take care of our children,” Ponder said.