( from Justice Speaks Vol.24 No.3 May/June 2009)
The Blunt Truth
About Furloughs and the Budget!
Cutting pay doesn’t cut into the problems of the economic crisis.
The budgets should not – and can not – be balanced on the backs of workers.
North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue has already ordered a 10-hour furlough for state workers and it hurts! The one-half percent pay cut rose to 3% from our wallets when he imposed it over just two months. That means $120 to $150 less income in May and June for workers making $24,000 to $30,000 annually. Now the Legislature is considering handing the Governor power to impose 20 more payless days – an 8% annual cut!
The state is saving more money by stripping back our hard-won healthcare benefits. Gov. Perdue imposed a “temporary” healthcare plan that reduces benefits and increases co-pays and deductibles for all state employees, teachers and retirees. Everyone is initially forced into the more expensive Basic Plan; an enrollee must not smoke or be overweight to qualify for the less expensive Standard Plan. To stay in, enrollees must pass “smokalyzer” and body-weight checks. Prescription co-pays rise to $35 and $55 and eye exams are no longer covered as of Jan. 1, 2010.
Yet corporations and rich folks make out like bandits!
NC currently has more than $1 billion on the books in corporate tax breaks and the Senate handed corporations an additional $325 million a year, beginning in two years, by cutting corporate taxes. For individuals, $100,000 income for a couple carries the highest tax rate there is. This means a couple with $10 million in annual income is taxed at the same rate as a couple with $100,000 annual income.
And it gets even more unfair!
The poorest 20% of North Carolinian households have an average income of $10,000 and pay 10.7% in state and local taxes. The wealthiest 1% of families have average annual incomes of $970,000 and pay only 7.1%.
And – It won’t even work!
State employees are so poorly paid the half-percent wage cut this year adds up to just $70 million – against a $3.5 billion budget shortfall. The cuts that are killing some of us will make only a 0.2% dent in the deficit.
The Governor, Legislature and the corporations that run NC will wring as much as they can from state employees, create a climate of fear among all working and oppressed people for our families and our futures, and keep on steppin’.
It’s time for us to step up!
