Dan Blue’s Continued Hypocrisy on Taxes | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Brian Balfour.

    Estimates from the Senate budget proposal's tax cut plan project a tax savings of roughly $13.9 billion over the next five years.

    According to Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue (D-Wake), however, allowing hard-working North Carolinians to keep more of their own money is "reckless."

• "I don't take issue with tax cuts when they are targeted and used as a tool to help support our economy," Blue, D-Wake, said in an emailed statement.

    Blue has been in the state legislature a very long time. He has a long track record.

    You know what else Blue doesn't have an issue with? Massive, regressive tax hikes.

    Back in 1991, Blue supported a budget that included a one-cent statewide sales tax increase and a three cent increase in the cigarette tax.

    At the time, the tax hikes were estimated to cost North Carolina taxpayers $637 million — more than $1.2 billion in today's dollars.

    Progressive liberals like Blue like to tell us that sales taxes, and cigarette taxes, hurt the poor disproportionately — for instance in this 2010 interview he calls for the sales tax to be lowered to promote a more "equitable" tax system.

    Nevertheless, Blue called that year's state budget "fair and balanced" and "tremendous." By the way, this "tremendous" budget also eliminated 290 teacher aids and clerical workers along with 180 assistant principal positions.

    Get the message yet?

    Blue thinks that allowing you to keep more of your money is "reckless," while imposing massive taxes that disproportionately harm low-income and working-class households "fair and balanced."

    Blue further criticized the Senate's current tax cut proposal, saying "I do take issue with this revised Senate tax plan, which gives the bulk of relief to the very people who don't need it."

    Imagine the narcissism required to believe you should have the power to determine what 10 million North Carolinians "need."

    Moreover, the Senate tax cuts will provide a 37% state income tax cut for the median family of four, and increase the number of low-income households in the zero-tax bracket. Meanwhile, phasing out the state corporate income tax will generate benefits that accrue primarily to workers.

    According to Blue, however, low-income households and middle-class workers "don't need" any tax relief.