TO THE EDITOR:
When it comes to fiscal matters, The Daily Tar Heel has lurched to the right since last year. And nowhere is this more obvious than in CJ Farris’s Oct. 7, 2016 front-page article, “NC holds onto its favorable tax rating.”
This article seems nothing more than an ill-concealed attempt to provide some favorable publicity to Gov. McCrory.
What this article ignores — except for a couple inches devoted to a quote from McCrory’s gubernatorial election opponent buried on Page 7 — is the effect that slashing taxes for corporations and rich people has on the state. The University of North Carolina had to endure years of budget-cutting because cutting taxes for the rich has left less money available.
The poor had to forego a badly needed expansion of Medicaid. Teachers are fleeing the state en masse because their pay situation compared to public teacher salaries in other states has worsened, and the legislature is hell-bent on eliminating teacher job security.
Today, almost half of our college classes are taught by adjunct faculty, because, under the current budget situation, paying decent salaries and benefits to professors is considered “too expensive.”
This is not just a coincidence. It is the result of years of cynical tax policies that benefit corporations and the rich at the expense of everyone else.
I’m sorry, Daily Tar Heel. Quoting a right-leaning foundation with a generic, neutral-sounding name, as the main source for a “favorable” article, is not only shoddy journalism — it’s politically irresponsible.
Sara Maxwell
