The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 12

12A Friday July 24 2009 0 7---7- --'sm''--2vrtskn411-'-r-rill-il charlotteobservercom The Charlotte Observer PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER Ann Caulkins NEWS SECTIONS Editor Rick Thames Managing Editor Cheryl Carpenter Deputy Managing Editor Tom Tozer EDITORIAL PAGES Editor of the Editorial Pages Taylor Batten Associate Editors Jack Betts Fannie Flom and Mary Newsom Cartoonist Kevin Siers Our View Inadequate regressive tax plan needs a redo UPT6 laAG DEM- POtJ1 FINE-LEGGEt r)0G 0 0 charlotteoloserver corn i 4 3- 4 11 4e I 1 4 EDITORIAL PAGES Editor of the Editorial Pa es e-i i I I I 1 5 I 1 1 tc Associate Editors Jack Betts Fannie Hone and Mary I 1 Cartoonist Kevin Siers si-A65e '74----'" i 5- 1 11-'17-V- 't OC g': ''IP DEMRAT A 1 rk -( 'e 4 -v 1i li- A lank PEPN 4ts VVt -Az" 4t-- k'''' '7 1 Ni44 2'-'-- 410 "--171 -47 ''7---'- -If4--- 'i- 4- r- i 7 NM (0' l'Or 1 4 AI i ci 6 4 ty 1 At-' at" a34f' 4-00704'1--1er 40 1- -'-7 -'4 liiL '''l -----'-1-''' ''-'--7 ''''1' 7'-1717' --f -'-''''--r------ ------7-'1'--- I11 owolvosiz -----r---- ALl-' VgZ----C Senate leaders envisioned a new system that would simplify the tax code broaden the tax base and cut key rates They wanted to replace an outdated tax code devised during the Depression for an economy based on tobacco textiles and furniture House leaders would have broadened the tax base and captured corporate tax revenue that now escapes the state's grasp but also wanted to raise income tax rates on the wealthy When Democrats who run the two chambers failed to reach common ground they grudgingly agreed to the $982 million plan into which Perdue threw a monkey wrench Thursday That may gladden the hearts of taxpayers who rightly felt a 2 percent income tax surcharge amounts to a tax on a tax but it leaves lawmakers grumbling on how to get out of the current mess Perdue has been critical of the legislature for delays in producing a budget and tax package but her objections also may delay a final deal We've said all along that lawmakers must do two things: make credible cuts in state spending to reassure taxpayers that the budget pays for only the most important functions of government and raise revenue that will help the state through this downturn and preferably leave North Carolina with a tax system less vulnerable to the ups and downs of the economy We hope Senate leaders continue pushing for a system that broadens the tax base significantly and that cuts if not this year then soon sales and income tax rates Unless they do so flawed tax packages that no one wants will become the norm rather than a revenue system that meets North Carolina's needs in the 21st century State shouldn't raise income taxes on those least able to pay No wonder a billion-dollar tax deal is falling apart in Raleigh Democrats in the legislature had glommed onto an idea that sadly featured some of the most regressive levies it could have proposed It was so bad that Gov Bev Perdue prodding lawmakers to raise even more revenue said she would not support the plan Now Senate leaders are rethinking the deal with the House The plan Demo -crats had signed onto Wednesday raised taxes C' 0 On everyone including a 2 percent tax surcharge on '''''''S'''' personal and corporate it '-'W- incomes and a I cent in-Perdue crease in the state sales tax that amounted to a 22 percent hike The combination of a tax surcharge and sales tax increase would have a significantly regressive impact on low-income North Carolinians It's a bad way to make ends meet in a recession Perdue disliked the House-Senate deal because it raised income taxes on "working" families She wants lawmakers to come up Nivith an additional $200 million to better protect education Perdue deserves credit for trying to protect core state services but she has given some conflicting signals Last year she opposed more taxes then this year called for an increase and more recently called for an increase up to $16 billion And it was her idea for the 1-cent sales tax hike which also hits "working" families hard The Observer Forum In response to "Obama steps up health plan push" (July 23) and related articles: corrective surgery then it's time to put him out of business What a sick way to earn a living MAXINE MILLER Huntersville ts In response to "BatA's lobby tab for '09: $15 million" (July 22 The recent political climate casts suspicion on many in elected office but I've known Anderson for more than 12 years She has a heart for preserving the charm and appearance held dear by Weddington residents Barry Moose from NC Department of Transportation recognizes that this connector would reduce congestion at Providence Road NE 84 and Weddington-Matthews Road Anyone who has tried to navigate that bottleneck would agree The plan makes sense for Weddington Study it but don't reject it because of just an "appearance" of conflict of interest WILLIAM MARTIN III Weddington Revamp VA use it as acid test for future health care reform What's the rush on health care reform? Let's take two more years and let the government revamp the VA system into the model President Obania is pushing Use that model to show the public what we can look forward to If it cannot be done with a government-controlled system why go forward with it? If it can be then it'll be an obvious slam dunk BILL SNYDER Cornelius Kidnapping suggests flaws in state probation system Article headline put negative spin on BofA lobbying efforts Your headline said "BofA's lobbying tab for 09: $15 million" yet the article went on to say: "Bank of America's lobbying spending since January pales next to the $23 million it spent in the first half of 2008" The headline could have been "BofA's lobbying expense for 09: Reduced by 35" The article also included a list of "Other companies that spent big on lobbying after bailouts" and there were many Why does the Observer try to grab the reader's attention with a heading that shows negativism directed only towards BofA? RICHARD DALE Charlotte 'Free' health care will end in hardto-swallow tax increases The president is proposing a national health care system that many people regard as free health care No country on earth has been able to financially sustain a national health care system at the level we consider to be the norm without tax increases that will be too hard to swallow I don't think I can afford "free" health care and neither can the country TONY CAPRANICA Huntersville a In response to "Montgomery's late remains in limbo" (July 22): Man able to load gun kill 2 officers is fit to stand trial Seems like we're wasting taxpayer money trying to figure out if Derneatrius Montgomery is competent to stand trial This should be a no-brainer for our judicial system If he's competent enough to load a pistol shoot and kill two well-trained police officers then he's competent to stand trial Stop wasting time and money Send him to trial RANDY CHERRY Lincolnton In response to "Hall House was help but shows bigger need" (July 3 Editorial): dent and driving without a license Again his parole was not revoked A probation officer decided that since he was already set for trial on a more serious charge revoking parole wasn't necessary He was released and on July IZ police say he kidnapped at gunpoint a 7I-year-old man his daughter an infant boy and a 7-year-old girl from a fishing area in Belmont He took their credit cards and money police say and terrorized them until they managed to escape Case was shot and injured in a shootout with police hours later Where do we begin? Words from Belmont Police Chief David James are a good place "The system is broke" he told a local television station Yep When Belmont officers arrested Case on July 12 James said they checked local and state records for warrants "At that time they didn't have any indication that he was on probation" he said What? Even though Case was set for trial on July 20? Even though probation officials had reviewed his DWI arrest enough to decide AGAINST revoking his probation and to wait for the disposition of the case? Even though he was a convicted murderer who had sat on death row and but for a flawed plea deal and a defunct law might not have been able to kidnap and terrorize a Gastonia family? Yes The system is broken Fix it Let family's ordeal spur data communication other changes Let's review the criminal life of Jerry Douglas Case He was a convicted murderer and kidnapper sentenced in 1986 to death An appeals court threw out his conviction in 1992 because of an improper plea deal He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was resentenced to life He was paroled in December of 2007 a lucky recipient of the state's now-defunct Fair Sentencing Act which allowed parole for life sentences Under rFour months after his the Structured Sentencing Act lawmakers passed in 1994 parole is not allowed for life sentences release in April 2008 he threatened to kill his Case ter His parole was revoked and he was back in prison for a month But the parole revocation was reversed when the charge was dropped and he was back on the streets In October of 2008 he was arrested again this time for DWI His parole was not revoked Officials decided to await disposition of his case His trial was postponed once then set for July 20 2009 nine months later On July12 he 'as in the Gaston County jail arrested for fleeing from a traffic acci Naysayers don't want to lose billions made off health care The time has come and President Obama has spelled it out The present cost of health care cannot be sustained Don't listen to health care reform naysayers They are unknowing puppets of powerful greedy companies that have raked in billions and will not sit by and lose it If national health care doesn't pass this year it will never pass JIM CHILDERS Lenoir IS In response to "Owner says kiosk gets boot over politics" (July 23): Mall stifles free speech with decision to boot kiosk owner Last I checked we still had freedom of speech in America apparently just not at Concord Mills mall My daughter loves Dave and Buster's there It's unfortunate that she'll no longer frequent Dave and Buster's now that mall management has chosen to stifle freedom of speech by terminating the lease of Free Market Warriors I'm a die-hard Republican but I still value freedom of speech BROCK JONES Charlotte Develop a strategic plan to deal with homelessness Creating and implementing a strategic plan designed to unify the more than 25 human services agencies offering partial Band-Aid solutions and rethinking the way we currently finance homelessness services could create permanent solutions and enable our community to get more bang for the buck The 2009 county budget lists $105 (i4 million for A recreation and leisure with 4 only $15 million to homelessness serv- Adler ices The recent bond referendum allocated $250 million for Parks and Recreation versus $10 million for affordable housing The Charlotte City Capital Investment Plan 2009 targets $20 million for housing out of $778 million A strahigic plan could help change this picture It could limit ineffective duplications while improving the outcomes to the many more people who need homelessness services ALAN ADLER Huntersville Fcr the Record It In response to "Gates should thank officers rather than demand apology" (July 23 Forum): Legislature hampers the work of the court system Police officers who arrested Gates let pride get in the way Did professor Henry Louis Gates overreact? Maybe But officers are trained to assess situations and make a rational call These officers didn't This may not have started out as a racial profiling but sadly it ended with the officers trying to put an uppity black man in his place They let self pride get in the way of doing the right thing CHUCK GARDNER Charlotte Must every store at mall be neutral nonoffensive? I have to wonder what makes a pro-marijuana T-shirt more neutral than pro-hfe baby bibs? Marijuana T-shirts are allowed to be sold at Concord Mills Do the good folks at Concord Mills think the rest of the mall is neutral and inoffensive? If I complain about a store like Spencer's for instance will they lose their lease too? I bet not it In response to 'Mater Madness" (July 22 Food): MARY THOMPSON Charlotte wg In response to "Weddington mayor lobbying fir road near her property" (July 19) and related Forum letters: th nation in per capita spending in the "justice and legal" category at $62 per capita here compared to a national amount of $123 My friends I do believe we could all agree that the people of North Carolina deserve far far better than this Our judicial system operates not just with too little funding but also without the authority to best manage the resources it does have It seems obvious that no significant enterprise of business much less a branch of government can be effectively micromanaged by a different branch of government through a rigid line-item budgeting system such as the One which is now imposed This is not in accord with our Constitution Section I of Article IV provides "The General Assembly shall have no power to deprive the Judicial Department of any power or jurisdiction that rightfully pertains to it as a coordinate department of the government" Clearly if the legislature provides funding less than adequate for the operation of the courts it deprives the judicial branch of its power by making it impossible for it to function effectively Excerpted from a speech by fin-mer NC Supreme Court Chief justice Bev Lake to Triangle business leaders Tuesday: Unlike the rest of our government our judicial system has been in a severe financial crisis for decades This is due entirely to a protracted gross and yes unconstitutional underfunding of our judicial system by our legislature h)r at least a decade our entire judicial branch of government has received less than 3 percent of all the monies available to the state of North Carolina During my last year as chief justice I reported that we received 28 per- 7'7 cent of all funds available and 1 am advised this fig- A Lake ure is now only 21 percent Our court system received a little more than $450 million last year from a budget of over S185 billion While funding for the courts has continued at a totally inadequate level our court workload has been increasing in both quantity and complexity Between 2003 and 2008 total case filings increased nearly 15 percent in five years Data from the Bureau of justice Statistics has North Carolina ranked dead last in Piece about tomato sandwiches dripped with goodness until I enjoyed the article except one detail that ruined the whole thing Not once in my 50 years in Charlotte eating thousands of tomato sandwiches have I ever made a sandwich with a tomato that I bought Heresy KEITH LEWIS Charlotte ao In response to "Custody fight for 5-leg dog" (July 23): 5-legged dog is not a 'freak' show owner should be stopped These animals aren't freaks they're physically impaired just as a human being might be If freak show owner John Strong is greedy enough to fight for a dog that is about to have Road plan really would reduce congestion in Weddington The insinuation in Sunday's article and a subsequent Forum letter was that Weddington Mayor Nancy Anderson is pushing this road prniect for personal financial gain because her family owns property along Weddington-Matthews Road The Observer Forum The Charlotte Observer PO Box 30308 Charlotte NC 28230-0308 WE WELCOME LETTERS Please sign and include your address and daytime telephone number We edit for brevity grammar clarity and accuracy and we reject letters published elsewhere Letters typically address a single idea and do not exceed 150 words We cannot return or acknowledge letters not used Letters are published online and in print For the Record offers commentaries from various sources The views are the writer's and not necessarily those of the Observer editorial board A.