Report documents Great Tax Shift; new NC code produces worst-of-all-worlds results

[G_j]

http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2014/04/14/report-documents-great-tax-shift-new-nc-code-produces-worst-of-all-worlds-results/

Posted by : Rob SchofieldMonday, April 14, 2014

depressing as hell, but everyone who cares about North Carolina public policy should make this new report by the N.C. Budget and Tax Center’s Cedric Johnson: “Who Pays in 2014? a part of their Tax Day reading list.

As Johnson reports:

Changes are coming to who pays taxes in North Carolina, and the news is not good for middle- and low-income taxpayers. This tax season marks the final year taxpayers will file their income taxes under the state’s old tax code and by next year it will be apparent to many taxpayers that the tax plan has not just reduced available dollars for investing in core public services, but also has increased the tax load for many.

The tax plan passed by lawmakers last year shifts the responsibility of paying for public investments to middle- and low- income taxpayers and provides tax cuts to profitable corporations and wealthy taxpayers. Despite evidence showing no clear relationship between tax cuts and positive state-level economic performance, North Carolina lawmakers paid for these massive tax cuts for the wealthy by shifting the tax load onto middle- and low-income taxpayers, making the state’s already upside down tax system worse.

North Carolina’s new tax code results in taxpayers at the lowest end of the income spectrum, with income of $17,000 or less, paying around 9.5 percent of their annual income in total state and local taxes while taxpayers at the upper end, with income of $345,000 or more, pay about 5.5 percent of their annual income in total state and local taxes.”

Read the entire report by clicking here.

- See more at: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2014/04/14/report-documents-great-tax-shift-new-nc-code-produces-worst-of-all-worlds-results/#sthash.5h63VzUU.dpuf

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. DU Rec

[atreides1]

2. I'd feel sorry for the people of NC...

...but this is what the majority wanted.

Remember it's the voters that elect the government they deserve!

[G_j]

3. partially true

however, you have overlooked the extreme redistricting that has taken place, making it close to impossible to elect Dems in some areas.
And now we have some of the most extreme voter suppression policies in the country.

[upaloopa]

9. Redistricting was done by elected Repubs.

I never understand why people vote get screwed and turn right around and vote for their oppressors.

[Kelvin Mace]

4. Art Pope bought the state

and with voter suppression laws coming into play, he intends to keep it.

[Timez Squarez]

6. Time to put Pope in prison

and throw away the key and forget about feeding the moron. He can live on roaches.

[Kelvin Mace]

8. What have you got against the poor roaches?

[n2doc]

5. All part of the GOP plan

raise taxes on most by 'cutting taxes', then brainwash people into thinking that the GOP lowered their taxes. When government services are cut, people start complaining about how their taxes don't seem to be getting them anything. GOP then cuts government services more, and promises more tax cuts that only cut taxes for the rich. Rinse and repeat.

[hfojvt]

7. unfortunately it looks fairly minor for the poor

and also hidden. People will pay MORE in sales taxes, but it is kinda hard to notice how much more you are paying. A one cent increase in the sales tax means paying 40 cents more (for the next three minutes) on a $40 purchase.

They nickel and dime you that way, so it's harder to notice that you just paid $100 or $150 more in taxes over the year.

Unfortunately they only provide a graph instead of a table, so that means I have to ESTIMATE the actual rates by reading the stupid graph (and THAT is why I hate graphs).

The total tax rate for the bottom 20% only goes from ABOUT 9.2 to ABOUT 9.5%. For the next 20% the tax increase is even smaller from about 9.1 to about 9.3%. http://www.ncjustice.org/sites/default/files/BTC%20Brief%20-%20Who%20Pays.pdf

The disgusting part, to me, is the more substantial CUTS that goto the top, reducing their total tax burden by about 1% (a dollar figure that becomes more substantial as income rises. For a millionaire, it is a $10,000 tax cut, for a $5 millionaire, it is $50,000.

But I think a lot of voters are a) not going to hear about it, and b) not going to care about it as long as they get their own $200 income tax cut.

It's just another day, another victory for evil.