North Carolina's unionized workers earn better pay and benefits than non-union counterparts; the Employee Free Choice Act would help workers organize North Carolina's low unionization rate partially explains the state's dismal standing in pay and benefits for working families, a new report says – but the federal Employee Free Choice Act is "a [Continue Reading...]
Over the past decade, jobs-centered development has emerged as a promising alternative to the South’s traditional strategies of economic and workforce development. Following the Second World War, southern leaders waged an aggressive campaign to transform the regional economy. To this end, officials mixed public policies with private market forces to create jobs and [Continue Reading...]
Last Friday at the Progressive Pulse, we reported on NC Blue Cross’ statewide nasty postcard campaign aimed at Senator Hagan. The postcards are meant for people to fill out and are postage paid to go to Hagan’s office with a message against a public health care option and “government-run” health care. [Continue Reading...]
A study of North Carolina's General Fund reveals the deep impact of the recession on tax revenues. North Carolina government spending per person has fallen to its lowest rate in 13 years, a report released today finds. This provides further evidence that balancing the state budget using cuts alone was simply an impossible [Continue Reading...]
Raising revenue preserves jobs, keeping North Carolina on equal footing with peer states Far from costing jobs, the tax increases passed by North Carolina's legislature are likely to forestall job losses in both the private and public sectors, a new study by the North Carolina Budget & Tax Center finds. Claims that state [Continue Reading...]
With North Carolina's economy and budget in crisis, state leaders of all political parties and philosophies are demanding – more than ever – a solution to the mushrooming growth in corrections expenditures. Can North Carolina gain control of this unsustainable budget-buster while, at the same time, improving both public safety and outcomes for offenders? If [Continue Reading...]
With North Carolina's economy and budget in crisis, state leaders of all political parties and philosophies are demanding – more than ever – a solution to the mushrooming growth in corrections expenditures. Can North Carolina gain control of this unsustainable budget-buster while, at the same time, improving both public safety and outcomes for offenders? If [Continue Reading...]
A new report released by HCAN today finds the pool of people in North Carolina covered by health insurance is shrinking coupled with the huge increases in costs over the last decade. Click here for a copy of the report Health Insurance Coverage in North Carolina Keeps Shrinking [Continue Reading...]
NC Budget & Tax Center analysis shows that for every one dollar in additional taxes in the House budget, there are three dollars in spending reductions Members of the NC House of Representatives have proposed some painful cuts in their budget to help the state deal with its $4.6 billion budget deficit. A [Continue Reading...]
Report outlines policy changes that could aid recovery Assisting families and communities recover is about more than helping North Carolinians find jobs because economic security requires much more than income. Achieving a more stable economic recovery for our state means connecting families to assets such as affordable housing, educational opportunities and savings accounts. [Continue Reading...]
The Senate Finance Committee’s proposed tax modernization plan would require an additional 0.3% of income ($32 average annually) from the lowest income earners, 0.1% of income ($32 average annually) from middle-income taxpayers and 0.1% of income ($958 average annually) from the highest 1% of income-earners. A new report by the NC Budget & [Continue Reading...]
The vast majority of states facing budget gaps comparable to North Carolina's are raising revenues to protect their economies, a new report finds. In fact, not a single state with a budget gap that size is adopting a cuts-only approach. Even traditionally conservative states such as Georgia are adopting balanced budget strategies that [Continue Reading...]
The North Carolina Budget & Tax Center just released a new issue brief looking at the state's worsening budget gap. This budget shortfall is more than 20% of the current state budget which means that NC has the 11th largest projected budget gap for fiscal year 2009-10. This means that the NC House [Continue Reading...]
As key congressional committees prepare to introduce landmark health reform legislation, a new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) report, "Health Reform: The Cost of Failure " projects that if federal reform efforts are not enacted, within 10 years the cost of health care for businesses could double, and the number of [Continue Reading...]
Health care advocate, Adam Searing looks at how technology is changing the way advocates press for policy reforms in a new article, Health Reform Advocacy: Change Brings Opportunity published in the North Carolina Medical Journal. The article examines some of the past road blocks reformers faced in building a better health [Continue Reading...]
