EDEN — The Republican remolding of North Carolina state government is essentially two years in, with elections coming in November to determine whether voters want more of what it’s brought.
The Republicans who won historic legislative majorities in both the House and Senate in 2010 have made good on many of their campaign promises.
Republicans cut the budget and held the line on tax increases, although some government fees have increased and education advocates say the cuts were too deep. They’ve rolled back a number of environmental regulations on businesses, with more of the same slated to come.
They approved a statewide referendum for a new law against gay marriage and civil unions, which voters overwhelmingly added to the state constitution in May. They’ve pushed through some education reforms, with more planned in coming years.
“I’m confident that what we’ve done is what the voters asked us to do in 2010,” Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said Monday. “And so for that reason I feel good about what we’re going to see in the fall.”
Democrats see things differently, to put it mildly. State Sen. Don Vaughan, D-Guilford, called the recently ended legislative session “a step backwards,” largely due to the Republican majority’s refusal to increase education funding as Gov. Bev Perdue and other Democrats requested.
Vaughan also derided “the millionaires tax cut” the legislature passed last year, which was initially billed as a benefit for small businesses, allowing them to claim their first $50,000 in annual revenue tax free.
It turned out that perk is available to all businesses, large and small, which became obvious only recently. Capping the break so only smaller businesses could benefit would have raised millions — as much as $150 million by one estimate — and a number of Democrats wanted to use that money in public schools.
But Berger, the top legislator in the state Senate, and other Republicans have said they’re tired of throwing money at education and getting less-than-hoped-for returns.
To that end, Berger got several of the education reforms he wanted passed this session, including a move toward merit-pay programs for teachers, more robust student assessments from kindergarten to third grade, new literacy programs for young students and a new rating system for K-12 schools.
His effort to hire teachers on annual contracts, instead of the current method of granting them tenure and protections against firing after four years on the job, didn’t move forward. It remains a priority, though the details may change, Berger said.
Berger, who faces a re-election challenge this November from Stoneville Democrat Bobby R. Stanley, sat down Monday with the News & Record at his Eden law firm.
He discussed the recent session, future policy initiatives and a rumored pending U.S. Senate campaign. An edited version of that conversation follows.
Where do we stand with tax reform? Will the majority try to do away with state income tax in the next couple of years, possibly replace it with a sales tax on services?
I think you’ll see us address the issue. Exactly how it will be addressed, we’ll just have to wait and see. … We would like to be able to not just lower the income tax rates, but eliminate the income tax rates. Whether that can be done or not, I just don’t know, but that’s certainly the goal.
We spend $2.5 billion (a year) on the university system in this state and just under a billion on the community college system. Do you see those numbers getting closer to each other in the near future … ?
I think we’re looking at potential large changes in higher education. We’ve seen for years the situation where we have someone who graduates from our university system, and they end up going back to the community college to get job skills. … And so I think it’s incumbent upon us as policymakers to recognize that and try to find ways to be more efficient with our dollars. And if that means that we end up with more students getting two-year technical or job-training type degrees as opposed to four-year degrees that don’t really provide any marketable job skills, then clearly we need to do that.
The $50,000 in tax-free business income bill. I remember it was billed as a small-business tax credit. It ended up being an all-business tax credit. Why not do as some of your critics repeatedly asked and put a ceiling on it … and plow (the extra money) into education?
It is targeted to small businesses because it hits the first $50,000 in business income. And so the businesses that will benefit from that are by and large small businesses. There was some discussion, if I recall correctly, about trying to target it in some way at businesses that earn less than a certain amount. … But the problem that we had was our staff was telling us that it was difficult to … have that provision written so you could accurately predict what your revenue situation was going to be. … And, again, what we were trying to do was leave more money in the private sector.
Are you going to run for the U.S. Senate in 2014?
I’m running for the North Carolina Senate this year.
What about in 2014?
I have no plans to run for the U.S. Senate in 2014 at this time.
By Travis Fain
Staff Writer
(News & Record)
Tuesday, July 10, 2012 (Updated 7:17 am)
