Nonprofit groups press lawmakers to raise taxes

More than 75 area nonprofit leaders, educators, parents and health care providers filled an auditorium at Edgecombe Community College in Rocky Mount this week, making a request state lawmakers probably aren’t used to hearing.

“If the only way to move our children forward is with a tax increase, then that’s what we’re asking for,” said Doris Stith, director of the Community Enrichment Organization in Princeville. “Let’s raise taxes.”

Stith’s plea for legislators to avoid massive cuts to early childhood programs was met with applause from the crowd, which gathered to express concerns over proposed plans to slash more than $4 billion in state spending to close a 20 percent shortfall.

The result of cuts under N.C. House consideration – more students per classroom, jobless school teachers, less assistance for elderly living at home and fewer doctors able to treat Medicaid patients – would be devastating, speakers said during the forum organized by Together NC, a coalition of nonprofit organizations.

Together NC has called for legislators to look at ways to boost revenues instead of “simply cutting their way” through the recession, said Elaine Mejia, director of the budget and tax center for the N.C. Justice Center in Raleigh.

A call for higher revenue collection – be it through sales taxes, so-called sin taxes or income taxes – is not usually a very popular position among voters, said N.C. Rep. Angela Bryant, D-Nash.

“If we’re going to look at any sort of tax increase, we’re going to need a groundswell of support among voters saying you want revenues increased and how you want us to do it,” said Bryant, responding to more than a dozen forum participants who called directly for tax hikes. “And you have to understand the magnitude of this. If we raise revenues, there still will be cuts. We can’t close this gap just with revenues.”

Jessica Jones, a mother of two young children, said she would be willing to pay higher taxes if it will save pre-kindergarten programs like More at Four or Smart Start, which face the chopping block. Jones said her children haven’t needed state assistance but said she has seen how important the programs have been to children who do.

“We’re finally in a position that other states are looking to us for a model of how to invest in early childhood programs,” Jones said. “Now we’re about to make the huge mistake of disinvesting that money.”

Most of the people who rose to speak lobbied legislators to maintain funds for education programs, which take up the majority of state spending and as a result are most vulnerable to cuts.

Forum participants included volunteers with the Down East Partnership for Children, teachers, church leaders and several speech-language pathologists. A recent House proposal would eliminate state Medicaid funding for speech therapy.

“Balancing the budget on the backs of early childhood programs is like cutting the legs out from under a support system that’s already been weakened,” parent Joanne Everett said. “If a little more in taxes is needed, a little more in taxes should be paid. I’m willing to do that. Are you?”

N.C. Rep. Joe Tolson, D-Edgecombe, is one of a large number of state lawmakers yet to speak definitively for or against tax code adjustments. Tolson, an appropriations committee co-chairman, said lawmakers have no choice but to plan as if the state will be unable to tap additional revenues.

“We’re putting the budget together based on no new revenue because, right now, we’re not sure if we’ll have the votes to pass a bill increasing revenues,” Tolson said. “As we’re working on these cuts, we’re waiting to hear from people. If our people think the cuts are too much, maybe we’ll have the support to put together a revenue package to close part of the shortfall.”