Cha-Ching: Another NC Revenue Surplus, What Now?

RALEIGH – Remember when Democrats were kicking and screaming about how tax cuts ‘for the wealthy’ would ruin the state budget and threaten vitally important government services? Ever since the Republican-led tax reforms began in earnest here in the Old North State, something curious has happened – year after year of surplus.

And it’s happening again:

“The North Carolina General Assembly will have several hundred million dollars more to work with as budget-writers adjust the second year of state government’s two-year spending plan.

The legislature’s fiscal agency and Gov. Roy Cooper’s budget office have adjusted revenue figures upward for the fiscal year that ends June 30 and for next year. The projections come after all the money received at the mid-April tax deadline was counted.

A memo says the state expects to collect $357 million more than anticipated this current year. These extra collections also caused state economists to predict another $277 million at the state’s disposal next year.”

Far from acknowledging how completely false they were when fear mongering about past tax cuts, the political Left will predictably point to the surplus as a reason to raise teacher pay, or the like.

Not much better, Republican majorities will go back and forth over how to allocate the extra funds among government programs and spending initiatives.

Here’s a better idea – give it back.

Forming a budget and then finally realizing you have more money than you budgeted is not a good reason to just off and spend it. It is, however, a great opportunity to show the taxpayers of North Carolina that you actually respect the fact that this money is theirs.

This money was confiscated from North Carolina business owners and working families. It shouldn’t take too much arithmetic to figure out how to divide up $357 million among those that paid net taxes to the state in 2017.

Give it back.