Fitzsimon File

House and Senate leaders agreed in principle Wednesday to postpone their showdown over a tax cut for the wealthy by two weeks and pass a continuing resolution to keep government operating and keep the 2001 half cent sales tax increase in place until July 15.  House negotiators agreed to the sales tax hike extension only to keep the debate alive over the tax cut for the rich.

But a new showdown is looming. Reportedly the Legislative Black Caucus decided late Wednesday night not to support the resolution unless it extended both the sales tax increase and the income tax hike on the wealthy. 

That may change by the time the House convenes at noon Thursday. If it doesn’t, the continuing resolution will not pass the House.

The decision by the Black Caucus is the latest indicator of the growing frustration felt by African-American members of the House, upset by the failure of legislation to raise the state minimum wage and to impose a two-year suspension of executions to allow the state to study the apparent flaws in the capital punishment system. 

House Speaker Jim Black supported both proposals, but a group of 8-12 House Democrats didn’t and the House defeated the minimum wage proposal in a floor vote. The moratorium on executions has not come up for a vote because supporters are still a few votes short of the 61 needed to pass it.

Black Caucus members say they have a hard time explaining to their constituents why they continue to support the House Democratic leadership on the tough votes, only to have their own priorities fail because other Democrats oppose them.

And now the leadership is asking them to agree to continue the regressive sales tax increase with no guarantee that the income tax hike will remain on people with average incomes of $813,000.

Good for the Black Caucus. This session has seen progressives compromise again and again, most notably on the lottery and the size of the cigarette tax, while conservative Democrats continue to largely get their way in controversial debates.

And the House leadership is not the Black Caucus’  biggest problem. The Senate leadership fills that role with its almost blind allegiance to the wishes of the top business lobbyists and their single-minded pursuit of tax cuts even if it means cutting Medicaid services to the most vulnerable people in the state.

This is just the first battle. The lobbyists and the Senate that serves them also want to keep the reduction in the corporate tax the Senate already passed and make sure the final budget does not include provision that closes a corporate tax loophole that costs the state $50 million a year.

Speaking of Medicaid, the public does not share the animosity toward the program that is growing among legislative leaders, particularly in the Senate.

A new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds strong public support for the program and among people who believe their state has a budget crisis, 74 percent oppose cutting Medicaid to balance the budget.  That includes 81 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of Republicans.

North Carolina lawmakers have yet to get that message. As of late Wednesday, the Senate’s proposal to reduce services to the aged, blind, and disabled was still under consideration.

The reverse Robin Hood summer continues.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 29th, 2005 at 6:47 am and is filed under Fitzsimon File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.