Despite forecasts by experts predicting a revenue shortfall in North Carolina, N.C. House Republican Leader Paul Stam is insisting otherwise.
Nathan Knuffman of the fiscal research division in the Office of State Budget and Management and N.C. economist Barry Boardman released a memo last week projecting a $271 million shortfall in revenue for 2015.
The shortfall, likely a result of lower income tax rates, would force the state to consider cutting agencies and sectors in order to avoid deficit. The UNC system has already seen almost $1 billion in state cuts since 2007.
Stam issued a statement Thursday in direct response to reports of the shortfall. He said that the reports were incorrect and were always coupled with complaints about tax cuts in the 2013 tax reform.
Instead, he offered his own set of figures, and urged media to keep the new numbers in mind before reporting news of the shortfall.
He reported the conservative revenue forecast for fiscal year 2014-2015 as more than $20.7 billion, a 2.9 percent increase since the last fiscal year. Controlling for population and inflation, he said N.C. is likely to have just as much revenue as it did during fiscal year 2013-2014.
“There is no revenue shortfall,” he said in the statement. “There is a shortfall only of expectation on the part of those who want to grow the state government.”
state@dailytarheel.com
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