Keep TABOR out of NC

Keep TABOR out of NC petition — I signed it.  Here’s an email I got:

Dear NC Budget and Tax Center partners,

 You have been hearing a lot from us lately in (what we hope) are the final few weeks of the state legislative session.  But we all know how important the decisions are about how our state invests in the critical public services and structures (education, health care, economic development, and much more) that make our state great, so we want to make sure to keep you up to date. Three weeks ago we sent you a high importance email about the new and dangerous SB 607 (otherwise known as TABOR) which has since passed the North Carolina Senate floor.

SB 607 would create a Constitutional Amendment limiting state investments in our critical public structures to an arbitrary and artificially low formula, capping our income tax at 5% (meaning another potential  $1.5 billion in lost revenue), and making it very difficult to access our Rainy Day fund during times of crisis. The cumulative effect of these changes would literally bleed our state dry, making it impossible to educate our children, care for the sick and elderly, train our future workforce, just as it did in Colorado, the only state to have EVER implemented TABOR.

Despite the fact that Senators passed this misguided bill, we appreciate that many of you took action and encouraged your networks to take action pushing almost 1,000 emails in to Senators inboxes over the past few weeks to ask them to STOP TABOR!

BUT, the bill could still be taken up by the House while legislators remain in session, so we are preparing for the worst and we STILL NEED YOUR HELP. Here are some immediate actions you can take:

ACTION ITEMS

1. Please share the Keep TABOR out of NC petition far and wide or develop your own language and start a petition. We ask that if you do this second option, shoot us an email or give us a call to let us know so we can talk about combining signatures for the optimum time of delivery whether that be in the next few weeks, or next summer (or both!).
2. Check out the NEW TABOR info page on our website with fact sheets, reports, graphics outlining everything you need to know about TABOR and why it’s a bad idea for North Carolina. Use it to inform yourselves and your networks.
3. I am also asking for your help in continuing to spread the word about this policy. Even if the House does not take up SB 607 this session, we will see it again come May and we want to get in front of as many groups, communities, coalitions and networks of people as possible between now and then to educate folks about the dangers of TABOR and other pieces of SB 607. Please email or call me with information about any community meetings, newsletters, or other methods where we can speak, write or share information in the coming months.

Thanks for all your good work!

Amber Moodie-Dyer

Policy Advocate, Budget and Tax Center

North Carolina Justice Center

224 S. Dawson St.

P.O. Box 28068

Raleigh, NC 27611