Vive le Diference

The News and Record reported this morning that the state House has approved another local option sales tax increase.  That makes two sales tax increases authorized in one legislative session.  It was reported that Pricey Harrison changed her stance.  She was initially in favor, then later opposed.  Sounds vaguely familiar.  Remember the lottery in the spring?  First vote to help out the leadership, then try to switch to defuse any opposition at home once it is clear Black has the votes.

And Mark Binker at Capital Beat today reports that Marc Basnight passed the state lottery.   He had pledged that the session was over last week, but then called legislators back to Raleigh once it was known that a couple of lottery opponents would be unable to return.  Kay Hagan and Katie Dorsett voted in favor of the lottery.

These measures do not merely represent bad policy.  They also signify the further transformation of a southern state  to a homogenized, mediocre arithmetic mean that no longer differs markedly from many of the states north of the Mason-Dixon line.   When I moved south 23 years ago, southerners would revel in the differences between their political culture and those found in the north.   Those differences are evaporating away rapidly. 

At the risk of  belaboring the obvious, I would like to make one prediction.  The enactment of revenue enhancement measures at the state and local levels will not suppress future demands for more of the same.  The lottery will not be a panacea, nor will the local option sales tax.  "Unmet needs" will continue to be trumpeted; and the basic dynamics of growth in government spending  remain unaltered.

We need some leaders in Raleigh who possess integrity and who understand statecraft.  Vive le diference.

Comments

[Michael]

The lottery will be an excuse for the legislature not to do it's job, in terms of adequate funding for education. Surely there are savings to be found in the state education budget - especially the UNC system - but funding even basic services and facilities may be redeced or abandoned because "we have a lottery."

Easley's legacy will be manipulation by any means to get the lottery passed. Waiting until some legislators are unable to return to Raleigh, reconvening the legislature, and having a quick vote: that's a sleazey move.

If you have ever lived in a state where there is a lottery, this is what usually happens:

Initial praise from most of the public; "now we can fund education."

Legislature increasingly finds ways to cut education spending, since "we have a lottery."

Increase in administrative costs to run the lottery from the first year on ...

Big pot of money coming in is attractive to non-education interests in the legislature, who will do about anything, legal or not, to divert some of that income stream in their general direction.

After several years, public spending on lottery levels off, and lottery spends more money developing and marketing new games to bait more suckers.

There is also a lot of dreadful advertising the public will have to endure from now on: in print, on TV, and everytime you drive down a highway or (especially) pass a convenience store.

So, this is what we have to look forward to. Our governor's legacy.

Oh, I forgot to mention the other part of the governors legacy: raiding the State Employee's Pension plan to balance the budget.

What a legacy - I had expected more from a former prosecuter.

Pathetic ...

[Joe Guarino]

Michael-- I agree with you, and appreciate your comments. (I had forgotten about the raiding of the state employees' pension plan).

It almost seemed inevitable that a lottery would ultimately pass. The political forces lusting after this particular source of revenue were simply too considerable, and they were relentless in pursuing this. They would not have given up until it happened. But that does not make the lottery good public policy.