#ncpol: Educating ‘Lieutenant Linda’

Wouldn’t it be nice if the drive bys fact-checked and interrogated Democrat candidates like they do Republicans?  (We can all dream, can’t we?) 

The Asheville Citizen-Times’s Mark Barrett was standing by, with his pencil sharpened, ready to take dictation for Linda Coleman, the Democrat making her second run for the second-ranking job in state government:

Tax cuts given to the rich while Republicans controlled state government should be rolled back to better fund public education, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor said here Monday.[…] 

Tax cuts to the rich, huh?  Are we quoting there?  (I don’t see quote marks.) Perhaps we’re accepting the leftist propaganda as fact.  Also, the state budget shows state spending on public education has grown substantially every year since the GOP took over in Raleigh.  SO, is Linda Coleman misinformed, uninformed, or just LYING to the people she wants to vote for her?   MORE: 

[…] Linda Coleman, a former legislator from Wake County, told the Council of Independent Business Owners much of the progress the state had made in public schools, community colleges and the UNC system has been eroded in recent years.

The state Constitution, she said, “guarantees every child the right to a sound, basic education, and in order to do that we’ve got to make sure that we’re providing the resources to our teachers and to our students.”

Republicans in Raleigh have lowered state personal and corporate income tax rates while eliminating some deductions and shifting more of the tax burden to the sales tax. Wealthier taxpayers used to a pay a higher income tax rate, but now all taxpayers are charged the same rate.[…]

Phasing out the state income tax does away with withholding from paychecks. It takes away one administrative headache for employers.  It puts more money in employees’ paychecks to spend as they see fit.  Moving more toward the sales tax makes state taxation a lot more voluntary.  The more you buy, the more you fork over to the state.  Wealthier people tend to buy more stuff, so they will still be dumping more money into state coffers.

Spending a lot of money does not guarantee quality.  We’ve all learned that throughout our adult lives in one way or another.  Here’s another interesting piece of info:  making everyone pay the same tax rate does not count as a “break” for “the rich.”  If one person pays 5% on ONE MILLION DOLLARS, while another person pays 5% on $20,000, the millionaire is STILL paying MORE.  Going out of your way to punish and confiscate the earnings of successful people enocurages less investment and more tax evasion. .MORE:

[…] Because of the changes, “I don’t think the money is there” to fund schools in the way they should be, Coleman said in an interview after her remarks to CIBO. She said the state has let go teachers assistants and school resources officers, and teachers have to dip into their own pockets to buy some school supplies.

Again, the state budget shows spending on public education steadily increasing — above the levels spent by Democrats — each year.  How can the money not be “there”?   Also, personnel decisions are made at the local levels.  The House is not sitting there nitpicking about how many teacher assistants Carthage Elementary is going to get.  Local school board offices are loading up with PhDs making six figures while teachers are having to get second jobs and pay for supplies out-of-pocket.  Mad about spending decisions in the schools?  Go see your school board and your superintendent.  

MORE:

[…] She criticized elimination of the annual sales tax holiday weekend the state used to offer before the start of school and the loss of a state tax credit for child care expenses, saying they have hurt the middle class.

Wait.  She’s complaining about there not being enough revenue, but then complains about the elimination of a PR gimmick that takes away ONE DAY of revenue collection.  And the tax credit was a scam that paid out tax dollars to people who actually paid NO TAXES.  

She said she doesn’t buy the idea that school spending does not affect educational quality.

“Money makes a huge difference in education,” she said. “If you want kids to perform better, you’ve got to put the resources in that will allow them to have the tools. … We absolutely need to do that.”

Actual research, supported by facts and hard data, says IT DOES NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE.    

Wow.  The more I see and hear this woman, the more I realize how much she coasted through 2012 on straight-ticket voting and Obama’s coattails.  She’s the opposite of impressive.