2024 House Budget Statement
Statement From Alexandra Sirota, Executive Director of the NC Budget & Tax Center
With the House budget released last night, we have our first glimpse at the product of closed-door negotiations that should have been open to the public from the beginning.
With a process so insulated from public view and disconnected from people’s everyday realities, it’s no surprise that the House budget doesn’t make the commitment we need to build a better future in our state.
We have the resources here in North Carolina to fund that better future.
Rather than drive $1 billion in unanticipated state funds to priorities people have identified— public schools for every child to learn in, child care that is affordable to working families, and affordable housing to keep all families sheltered — the House budget reflects the power and interests of a select few by maintaining the status quo.
When House budget writers do make commitments to some of these priorities, they rely on federal funds and reserves, resulting in smaller investments that are short-term in nature and falling short of the transformational investment and vision needed in this moment.
The proposed budget diverts more state money to private schools while failing to adequately fund compensation grants for child care providers, who receive one-time federal money. The result is that this budget neither stabilizes the child care system nor provides critical education services to all those in need and the state’s obligation to provide a sound, basic public education to every child goes unfunded.
The House budget also keeps scheduled income tax cuts for the wealthy and profitable corporations moving forward while holding down the pay of public sector workers who deliver the education, health care and operations of essential programs in communities across our state. The result is that starting teachers’ salaries would remain thousands of dollars below what it takes to make ends meet in most counties.
If North Carolina legislators do not end income tax cuts for the wealthy few and profitable corporations and instead invest in the people of our state, we cannot build a thriving economy for all, and our communities cannot deliver the well-being that every person in our state deserves.
We need bolder, responsive leadership that is willing to conduct a budget process that reflects the priorities of the people and results in a budget that funds our state’s future.
Beyond our preliminary take from our Executive Director above, the team at NC Budget & Tax Center is reading and analyzing this budget proposal with people in communities across North Carolina to understand its implications on areas including but not limited to revenue, democracy, education, and health with an eye to equity.
We look forward to publishing our findings in the coming days on our blog. In addition, we will be closely monitoring how this proposal moves through the budget process with the expectation that the final budget reflects a transparent and inclusive process and advances well-being in this great state.
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