The NC Budget & Tax Center explains the benefits of maintaining certain temporary income and corporate taxes for the next biennium.
North Carolina’s revenue system requires low‐ and middle‐income families in North Carolina to contribute a greater share of their incomes in state and local taxes than those in the top 1 percent. Indeed, the top 1percent, earning more than $367,000, paid just 6.8 percent of their incomes in total state and local taxes,while those earning less than $17,000 paid 9.5 percent.
…
The high‐income surcharge raises the share of income paid by the wealthiest households in total state and local taxes to 7 percent, still far below the relative contribution of low‐ and middle‐income families in North Carolina …. Households in the top 1 percent, who on average earn $929,000, saw an average tax increase of $1,507. Households in the top 4 percent, who on average earn $223,000, saw an average tax increase of $231. Importantly, though, only 15percent of those in this income bracket actually experienced a tax increase.
…
Furthermore, based on tax return data from2008, more than half of the benefit of ending the corporate income tax surcharge would accrue to200 big corporations. Increasing the after‐tax profits of these big corporations, most of which have the vast majority of their operations in other states, is unlikely to benefit the average North Carolinian. The rest of North Carolina’s nearly 200,000 employers would benefit little or not at all.
Economist’s View points out that federal policymakers don’t have a “Plan B” for the economy.
Policymakers have been telling us to have patience for some time now, but patience ran thin long ago. We need action, not excuses to do nothing based upon Republican talking points. We have millions of people out of work, we face the prospect of a five to ten year recovery for employment, yet the administration has no plans to even try to push Congress to do more. I understand that Congress is unlikely to go along, but at least people would realize whose side the administration is on. Because right now — as the above makes clear — it’s hard to conclude that the unemployed are anywhere near the top of the list.
06.06.2011Policy PointsComments Off on Around The Dial – June 6, 2011
Writing in the alumni magazine of the University of Notre Dame, Carolyn Woo, the dean of the university’s college of business, argues that economic globalization can’t work absent a larger vision of “the global good.” Writes Woo:
“Free market” is a misnomer; no markets are even close to free. Taxes, regulations, standards, tariffs, investment incentives, trade agreements, social institutions for education and health, physical infrastructures for transportation and communication, all come together to shape, enable, restrict, facilitate and hinder the activities and competitiveness of business. Whether or not globalization works for a country depends critically on the prudence and fortitude of its government in formulating corresponding strategies, policies and programs.
She continues:
Globalization has eased some of these problems, and I believe proper business practices followed by men and women of moral character with a people-centered sense of responsibility can indeed deliver on the vision of the common good. I see the recurrent worldwide miseries as a call to make globalization work for more people, not as a justification for retreat. The latter is neither feasible nor effective in raising the quality of life.
…
Trade is a necessary good, not a necessary evil. However, the “invisible hand” of markets cannot become “fists” — “handshakes” must prevail as the most common form of interaction. The solution for the Ethiopian flower farms is not to stop operation but to adopt strict environmental controls that safeguard worker health and safety, invest in water recycling methods to preserve the water table, develop effective irrigation approaches to increase crop yield, raise prosperity for the villagers and offer opportunities for children, particularly girls, to get an education.
…
I want to enjoy the roses, yes, at a higher price, and know that I am part of a global supply chain that lifted people out of poverty rather than exploited their lack of bargaining leverage.
Email Sign-Up
RSS Feed