Statement on HB10 and NC’s broken budget process from Alexandra Sirota, Executive Director of the NC Budget & Tax Center
NC’s legislative leaders are once again bypassing transparent budgeting processes by slipping key budget items, such as private school vouchers for wealthy families, into unrelated bills that have already passed through both the NC House and Senate.
But while the harmful anti-immigrant HB10 includes critical spending adjustments, it’s not a budget bill — it’s a patchwork solution that reflects a larger problem.
North Carolina’s budget process is broken — it excludes the voices of the very people who contribute to fund our future, gives tax breaks and subsidies to the wealthy and profitable corporations, and is pushed through the legislature without opportunities for debate from the majority of the state’s elected legislators.
Rather than getting serious about putting our public money to the people’s priorities this summer and actually passing a budget, legislative leaders are coming back this week to waste limited resources on a high-cost proposal to require local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration policies that aren’t going to keep our communities safe and are going to force local governments to take on more costs and more responsibilities while lowering public trust.
Legislative leaders seek to stir fears based on what we look like or where we come from, hoping we will blame everyday people for the hardships they create by continuing to divert our public money into the pockets of corporations and the wealthiest few.
HB10 seeks to sow and exploit divisions, while distracting from the real issues in North Carolina of unaffordable child care, housing, and more.
Children have returned to school with fewer resources in the classroom or bus drivers to get them there, while programs to support health and well-being get put on hold because of funding uncertainty. The broken budget process and more than a decade of income tax cuts for the wealthy and profitable corporations are hitting households across the state hard every day.
We say enough with distractions. It’s time for the NC General Assembly to stop pushing harmful, anti-immigrant bills and get serious about building a state budget that makes corporations pay what they owe through taxes so we can deliver the quality schools, affordable health care and good-paying jobs that ensure all of our families can thrive.
