North Carolina’s rural communities are far more susceptible to the impact of state and federal budget decisions, according to a new report released Friday morning. Rural counties are significantly less well-positioned their urban counterparts to fund core governmental operations, according to a report by the Budget & Tax Center – a [Continue Reading...]
The coming political year: What will happen? What should happen? It looks like 2012 is going to be one heck of a year in North Carolina politics and public policy — maybe one for the ages. Between Governor Perdue’s decision not to seek a second term, the General Assembly’s “midnight madness” fiasco, a statewide vote [Continue Reading...]
The state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is available to low and moderate-income workers and is equal to 5 percent of the federal EITC. It is designed to encourage and reward work as well as offset the substantial state and local tax contributions of these workers. At a critical time for working families and the [Continue Reading...]
The North Carolina Budget & Tax Center, a project of the NC Justice Center, released a new report Wednesday detailing how 10 counties were “persistently poor” in 2000, meaning that they had high poverty rates every year for three decades. Persistent poverty is defined by both the percentage of people living in poverty [Continue Reading...]
The coming political year: What will happen? What should happen? It looks like 2012 is going to be one heck of a year in North Carolina politics and public policy — maybe one for the ages. Between the General Assembly’s “midnight madness” fiasco, other special legislative sessions, a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment to [Continue Reading...]
The coming political year: What will happen? What should happen? It looks like 2012 is going to be one heck of a year in North Carolina politics and public policy — maybe one for the ages. Between the General Assembly’s “midnight madness” fiasco, other special legislative sessions, a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment to [Continue Reading...]
Documented wage theft cost North Carolina workers and their communities an estimated $4.7 million in 2011, according to a new report released Monday. The North Carolina Justice Center report finds that when an employer does not pay a worker for the work she or he has performed, families struggle to make ends meet, [Continue Reading...]
The North Carolina General Assembly should reform the state’s economic development incentive policies to ensure the creation of stable, quality jobs for the state’s workers, according to a new report released Thursday by the NC Budget & Tax Center. These reforms are especially critical given North Carolina’s high unemployment rate and the high-profile [Continue Reading...]
State investments in core services such as education, health, and public safety are projected to reach a 40-year low over the next two years, a new report finds. After decades of stability, state funding for core services – as a share of North Carolinians’ incomes – has fallen drastically, according to a
Today’s workplace policies were created for a labor force that does not exist, a report released today by experts with the North Carolina Justice Center finds, and increasingly, parents and caregivers are some of the state’s most vulnerable workers. It is essential to the health of the state’s families, workforce, and businesses to [Continue Reading...]
What a year of conservative control has meant to the North Carolina General Assembly. On Monday December 12 NC Policy Watch staffers Chris Fitzsimon and Rob Schofield will be in western North Carolina for two special Crucial Conversations — a lunch event in Asheville and an evening event in Boone. Chris Fitzsimon is the Director [Continue Reading...]
“What would the marriage discrimination amendment really mean for North Carolina?” Next May, North Carolina voters are scheduled to go to the polls to vote on one of the most important and controversial constitutional amendments to ever be placed on a state ballot. The proposed marriage amendment states that “Marriage between one man [Continue Reading...]
What a year of conservative control has meant to the North Carolina General Assembly. What the heck is going on in Raleigh? Why does it seem that state legislative leaders want to repeal most of the good things accomplished during the 20th Century? Recently, the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives went [Continue Reading...]
“What would the marriage discrimination amendment really mean for North Carolina?” Next May, North Carolina voters are scheduled to go to the polls to vote on one of the most important and controversial constitutional amendments to ever be placed on a state ballot. The proposed marriage amendment states that “Marriage between one man and one [Continue Reading...]
Investments in public transit improve life for North Carolinians by creating jobs, enhancing mobility and connecting our communities. But transit plans must be integrated with equitable housing policies and measures that will benefit the entire community, regardless of income bracket, according to a new report by the North Carolina Budget & Tax Center. [Continue Reading...]
