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The Daily Tar Heel

Letter: ​Why did we celebrate the state tax rating?

TO THE EDITOR:

I feel compelled to respond to Friday’s strange piece by CJ Farris in the DTH celebrating the Tax Foundation’s tax ranking of N.C. Thanks to McCrory’s efforts in reducing corporate taxes and changing personal income tax to a flat rate, we’re now the 11th best state for taxes, 4th for corporate taxes and 15th for personal taxes. Hooray!

The article was a great reminder that corporate profits concentrate wealth outside of the communities that create it, and rarely trickle down. Flat personal taxes are regressive, as low-income people disproportionately spend their money on necessities, not more houses, boats or work-free investments.

The proof’s in the pudding. I’d like to remind readers of a few other ranks heading the opposite direction thanks to McCrory’s time in office:

We’re 41st in teacher pay. We’re 38th in child poverty, with 1 in 4 children in poverty, including 40 percent of children of color. We’re 39th in overall poverty.

UNC distinguished professor of law and head of the poverty center fund Gene Nichol reminded us on that same Friday in our social work school: these aren’t just numbers. These are parents deciding which of their children eat that day. These are low-income people performing dental surgery on themselves, being without insurance and unable to visit the dwindling free clinics.

McCrory’s tax changes certainly benefit the community, if by community you mean corporations and high-income people.

DTH: who and what are we celebrating, again?

Mike Dolan Fliss

Graduate student

Epidemiology

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