Tax or Fee?
If you listen carefully to various politicians (NOT statesmen), you will hear them claim that they haven't raised taxes, only fees. Now I'm all for user fees to obtain money for services, but only if the fee is actually used to support that service. In reality, in North Carolina, nearly all "user fees" go to the general fund where it is spent -- as quickly as possible -- on anything that Jim Black desires.
Some recent "fee" increases (that take $162.7 million from working individuals to the general fund to be redistributed to non-working individuals): Driver license record copies: up 60%Automobile driver's license: up 31%
Truckers driver's license: up 26-38%
Automobile title fee (imagine that, a fee to prove you own property): +$35-40.
Registration fee (nothing to do with anything but state income): +$10-15. In 1976 the entire North Carolina budget was less than $2 billion. In 2004, the budget was $15.9 billion.
2005: $16.9 billion.
2006 (minimum estimated): $17.5 billion.
2007 (minimum estimated): $18.2 billion. So, in 20 years, the North Carolina State budget, not including cities and counties, increased by 875%. That's what you get when Democrats are in charge. During that entire time, Democrats were running the General Assembly. If you're voting Democrat in North Carolina, is this what you really want?
Comments
1
You are right on Ogre and I bet that wages in the same period have not kept up! I know minimum wage hasn't. ( By the way if a minimum wage is such a good idea lets make it $100000. That way we ca pay $50000 for a loaf of bread.)
Posted by: davidholtz at June 27, 2005 01:24 PM (jR4ef)
2
Same in Va. and the idiot governor now wants to be a Senator or the President. People who vote for him get what they deserve. Another hand in their pocket, and it won't be a sexual advance.
Posted by: scrapiron at June 27, 2005 11:28 PM (ywZa8)
Processing 0.0, elapsed 0.0046 seconds.
18 queries taking 0.0038 seconds, 10 records returned.
Page size 4 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.