The NC House is set to debate its budget proposal today, and much will be written about the details this week. But two sections in particular have several items of note to keep in mind in the face of claims of “fiscal responsibility” coming from House members. “Commerce-State Aid”, found on Page H-31 and 32 and “Cultural Resources” on pages J-1 thru 3 include the following items, even including funding increases for Civitas Waste of the Week features:
$200K for a youth baseball tournament in House Speaker Tim Moore’s district
$5 mil expansion in funds for the NC Biotech Center (former Civitas Waste of the Week)
$50k for a museum dedicated to the history of the town of Stanley located in Rep. John Torbett’s district
$300k increase in funds for grassroots science museums, another Civitas Waste of the Week
$858k for the NC Arboretum in Asheville
$800k grant to the wasteful Research Triangle Institute for clean energy research
$2.5 mil expansion of funds for The Support Center (formerly The Minority Support Center, a previous partner in Moral Monday protests)
$1.5 mil for archeological work on Queen Anne’s revenge
$500k increase in funding for the Grassroots Art Grants program
$130k increase in funding for the NC Museum of Art
$50k increase in funding for the Tryon Palace, another former Waste of the Week feature
Also, in the UNC budget is an increase of $2.5 mil for the Research campus at Kannapolis – yet another Civitas Waste of the Week
There is also included a $2 million “challenge grant” for the NC Symphony (i.e. taxpayers pay $2 mil to the symphony if it raises $9 mil on its own). This was another Waste of the Week.
Moreover, there are plenty of targeted tax credits and direct taxpayer handouts to politically-favored businesses:
$60 million per year for film production taxpayer handouts
$3 million per year for datacenter tax breaks
$8 million for historic preservation tax credits
$44 million (in FY2016-17) for R&D tax credits
$10.3 million (inFY2016-17) for renewable energy tax credits
$5 million for One NC Small Business fund (taxpayer handout)
$1 million for Main St. Solution Fund (more government handouts)
$10 million expansion for Rural Economic Development grant programs (more crony handouts)
NOTE: An earlier version of this post incorrectly identified the home district of the museum in Stanley, Civitas regrets the error.
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