A coalition of policy experts and wealthy advocates warned North Carolina lawmakers that recent federal budget cuts could devastate state services, urging action to protect health care, food assistance and other public programs.
The online news conference, hosted by the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center on Wednesday, featured national policy experts and members of the group Patriotic Millionaires. They outlined the potential fallout from the recently passed federal budget reconciliation legislation known as the “one big, beautiful bill,” and proposed solutions to soften its impact.
Alexandra Sirota (Photo: ncbudget.org)“For too long, North Carolina budget writers have treated tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations as the default, squeezing public services and shifting costs onto families and communities,” said Alexandra Sirota, executive director of the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center. “North Carolinians reject that approach. They want a budget that puts people first.”
Sirota described the state as being in a “funding crisis” that demands immediate legislative attention, noting that lawmakers adjourned without passing a budget despite growing needs.
Speakers warned that the new federal budget bill could trigger deep cuts to Medicaid, stripping health coverage from more than 600,000 North Carolinians, and saddle the state with up to $438 million a year in food assistance costs.
Meg Wiehe (Photo: cbpp.org)Meg Wiehe, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said federal budget changes could force “difficult trade-offs,” potentially slashing funding for education, infrastructure and other services.
“The Republican budget reconciliation bill will raise costs on North Carolina families and take health coverage, food assistance and other essentials away from North Carolinians who are already struggling to make ends meet,” Wiehe said.
The speakers called for a number of state-level policy changes to help fill the gap: halting scheduled cuts to corporate and personal income taxes, implementing a millionaire surtax, and drafting a long-term plan to mitigate the impact of reduced federal funding.
Miles Trinidad (Photo: itep.org)Miles Trinidad, a state policy analyst for the Institute on Taxation and Economy Policy, said the state’s tax structure disproportionately burdens lower income residents. “The wealthiest North Carolinians are paying a lower share of their income towards taxes than teachers, firefighters, public safety officers and factory and farm workers,” he said.
According to analysis by ITEP, Trinidad noted, the lowest 20% of earners pay roughly 10.5% of their income in taxes, compared to just 6% for the top 1%.
Members of Patriotic Millionaires, a group of high-income earners who advocate for a more equitable tax system, echoed those concerns and called for lawmakers to raise taxes on the wealthy to ensure investments in critical services.”
Morris Pearl (Photo: patrioticmillionaires.org)“Taxing rich folks like me is a commonsense solution, and we cannot continue to create carve outs for those who make the most at the expense of those who make the least,” said Morris Pearl, chair of the group’s board. “Gross inequality is bad for rich people like me too.”
Monica Lavery, a retired clinical social worker and member of the group, said her family has benefitted from low taxes on investment income and generous pensions, even as public services have eroded.
“For years, my husband and I have watched our wealth accumulate via investment income and generous pensions, while our taxes remained minuscule,” Lavery said. “We want revenue to provide infrastructure for health care, child care, education and housing. As patriotic millionaires and proud North Carolinians, we want to pay our fair share.”
Lavery added that her daughter, a teacher, was forced to leave the state due to low pay and poor working conditions. “We would gladly pay a higher tax rate so our children and their Gen Z peers can afford to stay here and have hopes of someday being able to purchase a home and raise a family,” she said.
A poll conducted by the North Carolina Budget & Tax Center found broad support for the coalition’s proposals, with 77% of North Carolinians opposing the elimination of corporate income taxes and 70% supporting increased taxes on wealthy corporations to fund education, health care and infrastructure.
“We are concerned the gap between the rich and the poor has grown so large it has created a degree of political unrest that threatens the existence of our democracy,” Pearl said.
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