A fair budget would benefit all

Chapel Hill News by Nancy Milio, May 22, 2002

The Chapel Hill News rightly pointed out the local impact of the state budget crisis (April 24). Take that one step farther: the federal budget impact on state spending.

Bills passed last yea forecast strains for this year?s N.C. finances, like the huge tax cut, most of which benefits high-income people, now becomes the excuse for cuts in non-defense programs for 2003. These cuts matter to the state?s bottom line. Just five of them, like highway funds, water pollution control, and worker training, reduce North Carolina funding by $800 million. Health funds that provide for Health Choice, health coverage for children in low income working families, is to be cut by 28 percent nationwide, and many other programs, such as welfare cash assistance will be effectively reduced by inflation.

Worse still, a new report says North Carolina has the 10th largest increase in the rich-poor gap during the 1990s. The poorest fifth of families gained $300 in yearly income, the middle fifth gained $4,600, while the richest fifth gained $24,450. The General Assembly faces a difficult deficit. It should resolve it by progressive taxes, devoid of current loopholes, on the corporations and individuals who gained most, not by forcing local governments to use regressive property and sales taxes that hit low income people hardest.

Prospects for state budgets do not look good if the proposed federal budget is adopted. Next year?s budget would set the military-national security direction for this country in place for many years to come. It generously funds new entities for chronic war actions, hand-in-hand with authoritarian regimes, and would allocate foreign aid funds without customary human rights controls. It increases spending to enforce new powers over individual freedoms in the name of national security. Many health, housing, education, labor, and environmental programs lose, while there are increases for defense, e.g., two new types of dog fight aircraft ? of no use to fight any know brand of terrorists ? and $15 billion for new nuclear plants to power naval vessels.

Our Congressional legislators can help North Carolinians by joining those in Congress who want to reverse the administration?s priorities. A fairer federal budget would have less for war, more for peacemaking; cutbacks in tax breaks for the rich and more investment in the lives of people. This is a sounder basis for building national and international security and more worthy of what this nation stands for.