Extend the one penny sales tax & save 20,000+ North Carolina jobs

The new majorities in the state legislature are threatening to damage North Carolina’s educational and economic future in order to satisfy the extreme demands of fringe political groups – for a penny.

By allowing the temporary one penny sales tax to expire, the current budget being proposed by the House leadership will result in $1.25 billion in education cuts, eliminating 20,000 jobs in kindergarten through 12th grade. The Senate proposal would eliminate 14,753 teacher assistant jobs according to state Department of Public Instruction estimates. “I’m scared to death,” said Newport Principal Beth Lanning.

This budget “would put North Carolina dead last in the country for per-pupil spending, and put more people out of work,” according to Rodney Ellis with the North Carolina Association of Educators. The $2 billion in proposed cuts to Medicaid would result in the loss of 40,000 private sector jobs, Gov. Perdue said.

“The average person is paying less than a quarter a day as a result of this tax, and we believe our kids are worth much more that,” said Debra Horton, executive director of the North Carolina PTA. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board member and N.C. School Board Association president Joe “Coach” White said: “The quality of our children’s education is worth a penny – a penny that we are already paying.”

An Elon University poll shows broad public support for keeping the revenue stream in place: 73 percent of North Carolinians favor extending the one penny sales tax for another year. “A majority of voters in both parties would rather leave taxes the same than harm their children’s public schools,” said Chris Fitzsimon with N.C. Policy Watch. “No one wants new taxes,” said Caldwell County Schools superintendent Dr. Steve Stone. “This is not a new tax, but rather one we’ve paid for almost two years,” he said.

North Carolinians have supported extending the one penny sales tax because they understand that education is the highway to economic growth. Yet the House and Senate leaders “would rather abolish 20,000 jobs at a time when almost ten percent of the state’s workforce is unemployed, because shrinking government is more important to them than almost anything else,” Fitzsimon said. The Smoky Mountain News’ Scott McLeod blasted the budget proposal: “The anti-tax ideology is trumping common sense. Shameful.”

“My biggest fear is the economy in our state,” said Debbie Johns, a career and technical education teacher at Southwestern High School in Randolph County. “Companies are not going to want to come here and stay here if the state doesn’t care about education." Martha Vick of the Wilson Education Partnership said additional cuts would harm her county’s ability to attract industry by damaging the local school district.

“This is rock-bottom — our schoolchildren and the money to educate them,” said a News & Observer editorial. “This one is worth an all-out fight.”

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