North Carolina State Auditor Beth Wood can’t seem to stay out of the news. In early February, Under the Dome reported Wood was late in paying a $1,200 property tax bill on her Raleigh residence. Wood said she was late because she had to repay a $90,000 loan she took out to help finance her 2008 campaign for State Auditor.

Wake County Property Tax online records indicate Wood paid her delinquent taxes in full on February 26, 2010. She later told Under the Dome, “I work from a budget. It is a choice I made to pay the property taxes late and pay the interest charge that goes with it.”

Come again? In February, didn’t Wood say the burden of her $90,000 campaign debt precipitated the late payment? Now a month later the State Auditor said, she’s on a budget and the late payment was merely a “choice” she made.

Seems like over the past decade Beth Wood has been making that “choice” quite frequently. Wake County Property Tax records indicate Wood was late in paying not only her 2009 property taxes but also her 2008 property taxes. A review of the records seems to indicate Wood frequently “chooses” not to pay her property taxes on time.  She was late in 2000 on her Lexus, and  in 1998 she was late paying taxes on the same car. As far back as 1995 she was “choosing” to pay her property taxes late.

Now it should be noted that in every case Auditor Woods has paid all of the taxes and whatever penalties and interest was assessed. What is interesting in the context of the story was her initial story that her borrowing money to finance her campaign was what necessitated her paying the taxes late. That does not seem to square with her record of past late payments.

In her present position as State Auditor we have to hope Woods ensures taxpayers that her approach to watching out for how tax dollars are spent is a little less cavalier than her approach to paying taxes.

File this one under the “most predictable headline of the decade” category. From today’s N&O:

Deficit solution may include taxes

Erskine Bowles said “everything is on the table” – including raising taxes and cutting Medicare and Social Security – when the bipartisan commission created by President Barack Obama begins meetings on how to reduce the national debt.

In a joint meeting of the state Senate and House Finance committees yesterday, further discussion of North Carolina’s sales tax was the main focus. Specifically, members were briefed on which services North Carolina currently taxes and those that could potentially taxed if lawmakers decided to broaden the sales tax base.

Were the sales tax to be extended to services, the most likely services to be included are those already taxed by the most number of other states. Experts from Fiscal Research indicated that because so many other states already tax those services, its likely that those services would be the easiest on which to implement the tax from an administrative point of view.

Handouts at the committee meeting included a comprehensive listing of services and how many states currently apply the sales tax to them. The services being taxed by the most states, but not currently by North Carolina, include:

• Natural Gas (for both industrial and residential use)
• Sign construction and installation
• Tire recapping and repairing
• Bowling alleys
• Welding labor (fabrication and repair)

Civitas polled likely voters on this question in October (question 33); 59%  were strongly or somewhat opposed while 28% were strongly or somewhat in support.

As Francis pointed out earlier, Gov. Bev Perdue seems to be bending the truth when it comes to her stance on the gas tax.  During her announcement on of a controversial funding mechanism to finish I-485 she told reporters that she would not “ever” raise the gas tax.

Apparently she meant qualify that and say ever again.

In addition to signing legislation this summer that in effect raised the gas tax by 2 cents per gallon, Perdue voted three times during her stint in the General Assembly to raise the gas tax.

In fact, she was a co-sponsor of the legislation in 1989 that created the Highway Trust Fund which raised the gas tax by 5.25 cents per gallon.

Then again in 1991 she voted for HB 1222 which temporarily raised the gas tax by half cent per gallon. When that half cent was set to expire in 1995, she voted for SB 943 which made the increase permanent.

When it comes to taxes Perdue seems to promise one thing and do another.  Remember back on October 23 of last year when candidate Perdue said: “I don’t believe that you can raise taxes in an economy with folks struggling the way they are” and then signed into law a $1.1 billion tax increase this summer.

Now she’s saying she wouldn’t ever raise the gas tax just 6 months after signing into law a gas tax increase.

Unbelievable.

Yesterday Gov. Bev Perdue was talking about completing the I-485 loop around Charlotte. While talking she said: “We want you to have a reason to bring it in under budget, and done well, and done so as to last for the next 50 years,” Perdue said. “The only way I think you can do that, without raising the gas tax, which I’m not going to do ever, (emphasis added) is that you have got to have a different financing structure.”

Not so fast Bev, Senate Bill 200, that you signed, raised the gas tax 2 cents a gallon according to the Fiscal Note prepared for the bill. According to that note, “The bill would set the rate for the first six month period at 29.9 cents per gallon, an increase of 2.0 cents per gallon“! So about that NEVER RAISING THE GAS TAX?

I have heard politicians break promises after making them – but this is the first time I have heard one break the promise before making it.

You can read the story from WRAL here and watch Bev talks about gas tax:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJBXBlSbWMs&fmt=35

In August, we were all told by the leadership of the General Assembly that $1.1 billion in tax increases were necessary in order to stave off massive, destructive cuts to “critical” state services.

Apparently we were lied to.

According to the Gov. Perdue’s budget director, the state has about $600 million socked away for a potential budget shortfall this year.

Perusse’s office estimates it will have $469 million from unused funds and holdbacks of up to 5 percent from state agencies ordered by Gov. Beverly Perdue to ensure there’s money to pay bills. There’s another $150 million in the rainy-day reserve fund.

So a little over half of the tax increase wasn’t even necessary!  Apparently there was an extra 5% padded into the budget that Perdue could “holdback.” So why wasn’t that money just cut in the budget, making $469 million in tax increases unneeded?

Because raising taxes wasn’t about balancing the budget — it was about finding the manna needed to continue the General Assembly’s appetite for increased spending.

There’s that, and there’s also the argument that they raised taxes more than needed this year (2009) so they could avoid tax increases in an election year next year.  Nah, the General Assembly wouldn’t place it’s own political survival over the best interests of the people of North Carolina now would they?

Gov. Bev Perdue is honoring veterans today by pandering for military votes telling businesses that they should hire more veterans by participating in a new program called “I Hire Military.”

That’s great and all, but has the Governor noticed unemployment in North Carolina is 10.8% (8th highest in the nation)?  Nobody is getting hired, military or not.  In fact, the opposite is happening.

If she was really concerned with businesses hiring more workers, why did she sign a budget that raises taxes on all businesses, regardless of size, by 3%?  That’s 3% more of their revenue that they can’t use to hire veterans (or anyone else for that matter) because it has to be sent to Raleigh so state cars can sit idle, a $25 million pier can be built, or she can spend $80,000 going on a trip to China.

Does she recognize that one affects the other?

In an N&O article, Sen. Kay Hagan says, “I think people have to get their heads around this, that we can’t continue where we are right now …We’re in a window of opportunity right now, and it’s time for health care reform in our country.”

Reform – yes.  The type of liberal reform Congress is proposing that will result in a higher deficit, higher taxes, and higher insurance premiums for everyone – NO.

The window of opportunity Sen. Hagan refers to might be quickly shrinking for the Democrats in Washington.  The House bill was passed by an astonishingly slim margin – Democrats loosing 39 votes in the process.  Change is beginning but not in the way Democrats envisioned last November.  Republicans swept the gubernatorial elections in 2 key states NJ, and VA.  And what if the 2010 Congressional election was held today? According to a Gallup poll registered voters prefer Republicans for the House 48% to 44% – a marked shift since the health care debate took center stage earlier this summer.

In North Carolina 53% of voters are opposed to the type of health care reform Congress is currently discussing.

The American public has demonstrated their disapproval – the Senate would do well to listen.

With all the national issues it turns out to be a local one that best crystallizes the problem with runaway government. In the Raleigh News and Observer today we have an article, Women sues to get men to play her, about a female tennis player suing the city of Raleigh for the right to play in the men’s league.

My head has stopped spinning now. The story here is not about the lawsuit and women and men playing or anything else in this article. It is about why in the h… does Raleigh, or any local government, have a David Bell, the city’s tennis director, or anything else that is not a core function of government. Local government is not raising taxes to take care of police or fire protection. They are raising taxes to hire staff to supervise tennis “ladders” and offer ballroom dancing classes.

Yep, Raleigh has tennis and ball room dancing but maybe that is so residents don’t notice violent crime is only up 4%!

There have been some reports that the tax increase contained in the NC budget was to be $990 million.  Those reports appear to be premature.

According to the estimates in the budget bill released late last night, the tax increase is actually $1.08B.  The new taxes will generate as follows:

Individual Income Surcharge – $172.8M
Corporate Income Surcharge – $23.1M
Sales Tax Increase – $803.5M
Digital products and click throughs – $11.8M
Tobacco, beer, wine, liquor – $68.8

Total $1.08 billion.  Add in another $55 million or so in increased fees and it’s over $1.1 billion in new revenues for the government.