Alexandra Forter Sirota
Posts by Alexandra Forter Sirota
Governor’s NC budget would stop some of the deep income tax cuts for rich people and corporations
The Governor’s budget would take a modest step toward making sure North Carolina has the revenue we need for things like education, clean air and water, and child care. Even better, the proposal would do it the right way, by requiring rich people and corporations to chip in more for these vital services.
This Pi Day, the pie is shrinking in NC. Here’s what that means for North Carolinians
North Carolina’s income tax provides a critical source of public dollars to invest in opportunity across the state, but legislative leaders have been relentless in cutting the income tax rates for corporations and the wealthiest individuals. The result is that a greater share of NC’s budget funds comes from sales tax, which means those with low- and middle-incomes pay a greater portion of their income when when buying goods and certain services in our state.
NC’s budget details will matter for a healthy state
Budget details will matter for taking the full measure of our state’s progress in making sure people’s health and well-being is protected. A budget to support North Carolina’s health should: Sustain the commitment to people’s health and well-being for the long-term by protecting revenue sources; Recognize that people are healthy when they are safe on…
NC’s revenue forecast could be so much better if corporations and the wealthy paid what they owe
NC now has more public dollars than was projected in the last revenue forecast to spend on priorities like children’s education, worker training, access to child care and affordable housing for their families, and infrastructure to connect more communities to the internet and more people to good quality jobs nearby.
Our union and management ratified a new Collective Bargaining Agreement!
This January, BTC reached an important milestone for our organization: We ratified the first Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiated between our staff union and BTC’s management. As we shared on our blog last year, having a unionized workplace is one of the ways that BTC puts our values into action inside our organization.
A new year, and our one-year anniversary
As we celebrate our one-year anniversary as an independent organization throughout 2023, we are also reflecting on the work that the NC Budget & Tax Center has done in different incarnations over the past 30 years in North Carolina to document fiscal and economic conditions and connect the policy process with realities people face across our state.
Early Voting has started in NC — how does funding affect your experience?
How long the wait lines are, how many sites are open, and what machines voters use (along with unseen work outside of voting season to support voter databases and support candidate filing processes) all depend on funding.
Unemployment Insurance worked, but NC workers who needed it most didn’t see the full benefit
North Carolina could have benefited even more if our state’s Unemployment Insurance policies were in line with what is needed to stabilize households and local economies during hard times. In 2013, state policymakers made changes that reduced the effectiveness of the program. Today, North Carolina’s Unemployment Insurance continues to provide too few dollars in wage replacement for too short a time for too few of the workers who have lost their jobs.
As new fiscal year begins, more tax cuts loom on the horizon
There are a number of good policy choices on the table that should be front and center in our policy debate as North Carolina’s leaders make decisions that will affect the path we are on for the next decade.
Wealthy corporations paying what they owe would help North Carolina thrive
Repealing the reductions in income tax rates scheduled for the next decade, in particular keeping the corporate income tax rate at 2.5 percent, would provide $1 billion dollars a year to prepare our kids for the future, keep our communities healthy, and deliver the programs that all our families need.