Civitas ReviewThe Blog of the Civitas Institute

Mar

15

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To understand how income taxes hurt people, check out our exclusive interview with Dr. Arthur Laffer from earlier this year.

Liberals like to say lowering income taxes is a way of hurting poor people. Laffer helps explain why the opposite is true. The rich like income taxes, he says: They keep ordinary people from accumulating wealth. The billionaires don’t worry about income — they’ve already made their dough, and/or are getting money from sources not taxes as income. That’s why you’ll see limousine liberals defending the income tax: it keeps ordinary people from getting rich and getting into the country clubs that celebrity billionaires want to keep for themselves.

The point is not to keep some people down, but to help as many people as possible rise. That is, the point is not to close down the prep schools, but to make everyone prosperous enough to send their kids to the best schools.

By the way, it’s also revealing that he’s not some crotchety grump, but is upbeat and energetic. This interview is well worth seeing.

Mar

14

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State Senators Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell), Louis Pate (R-Wayne) and Tommy Tucker (R-Union) today filed a bill (SB 334) to revamp the lease of the Dorothea Dix hospital campus to the city of Raleigh that was approved in the closing days of the Gov. Perdue administration. The deal, seen by many as an attempted by the out-going Governor Perdue to build a legacy for her Administration was widely criticized at the time.

The bill would require:

1. The return of the land currently leased by the City of Raleigh to the control of the State.
2. For the Department of Administration, in compliance with State law, to investigate possible State requirements for the land.
3. The Department of Administration to lease to the City of Raleigh at fair market value an area of the campus identified in the 2007 State Government Facilities Master Plan as suitable for a public park.
4. Reserves a part of the campus for use by the State Department of Health and Human Services which currently has over 2,000 workers onsite who would need to be moved under the current lease.
5. Allocates all proceeds from the lease for the benefit and treatment of North Carolina’s mentally ill.

5

Mar

14

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On March 13, 2013 Sen Thom Goolsby (R-New Hanover) filed legislation to restart the death penalty in NC and ensure justice will be served for more than 100 families whose loved ones were brutally taken from them.

One part of the legislation will repeal the Racial Justice Act, which many believe was a back-door tactic to get rid of the death penalty.

Who are the real victims of the Racial Justice Act? This is the first in a three part series on the Turner family whose son, Roy Turner Jr., was killed in the line of duty. In the first video Roy’s Parents talk about what happened the day they found out that their son was murdered.

Mar

14

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NC State University Economist Michael Walden spoke to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce Wednesday about the State’s economic outlook. According to Dr. Walden, “We’re going to see a better economy this year,” and North Carolina will likely add 90,000 jobs in 2013.  That’s great news for struggling North Carolinians who have suffered under one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates for years.

Dr. Walden recently wrote about North Carolina’s economic outlook:

 “North Carolina’s growth in jobs since the bottom of the recession (February 2010) now exceeds the comparable growth rate in jobs at the national level. Specifically, from February 2010 to November 2012, North Carolina added jobs at a 3.8 percent rate, compared to 3.6 percent for the nation. Also, both North Carolina’s and the nation’s unemployment rates have now dropped 2.3 percentage points from their peak. Of course, the state is by no means out of the woods from the job losses suffered during the recession…The state lost 8 percent of its job base during the recession, compared to 6 percent for the nation. Yet the fact that our state’s job growth in the last three years has now exceeded the nation’s pace is encouraging.”

Mar

14

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Parents of special needs students will be eligible for scholarship grants of up to $3,000 per semester ($6,000 per academic year) under a new bill introduced earlier this week by a bipartisan group of law makers.

The legislation (HB 269), sponsored by Representatives Jonathan Jordan (R-Ashe) and Marcus Brandon (D – Guilford), allows parents to use grants too reimburse tuition costs or the costs of special education or related services. The bill also expands eligibility to include special needs students who are home schooled. To help pay for the program, the bill requests $3.6 million in state appropriations in 2013-14.

The legislation modifies an existing program that provides nonrefundable tax credits of up to $6,000 for private school tuition and other related educational expenses.

The bill is now under review by the House Education Committee.

The bill is one of a a number of bills to help expand school choice in North Carolina and provide greater educational opportunities for parents and students.

To learn more about what North Carolina thinks about school choice and how to  expand it see here and here.