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North Carolina
Related: About this forumHow One Multi-Millionaire Is Turning North Carolina Into A Tea Party Utopia
In 2010, Republicans took over both houses of the North Carolina legislature for the first time since 1870, due in no small part to the spending of a single, very wealthy Republican. As Jane Mayer reported in 2011, three-quarters of the spending by independent groups in North Carolinas 2010 state races came from accounts linked to wholesale baron Art Pope. Of the 22 state legislative races targeted by Popes family and his organizations, 18 fell to Republicans. Yet Popes bought-and-paid-for legislature had limited reach until very recently thanks to the states Democratic Governor Beverly Perdue. That all changed last January, when Perdue was succeeded by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.
With no remaining checks to Republican rule in North Carolina, the state has now become a haven for some of the most ideological and ill-considered tea party fantasies dressed up as legislation. Here are just a few of the bills being pushed in the house (and the senate) that Art Pope built:
Reverse Robin Hood: A GOP bill in the North Carolina Senate would eliminate all individual and corporate income taxes, and largely replace it with higher sales taxes. Sales taxes disproportionately burden lower-income taxpayers, because they spend a larger percentage of their income on basic needs. It is also far more difficult to create a progressive sales tax than to enact a progressive income tax code that places a lesser tax burden on those who can least afford it. As a result, a similar tax plan in Louisiana would raise taxes on 80 percent of residents, while giving Louisianans in the top 1 percent of income earners an average tax cut of $25,423.
Shutting Down Abortion Clinics: Another bill in the state senate would add new restrictions to abortion clinics in an attempt to force them to close their doors. Among other things, the bill requires doctors to have admitting privileges in a hospital located within 30 miles of the clinic, an unnecessary restriction that serves little purpose other than to limit the pool of doctors available to clinics.
With no remaining checks to Republican rule in North Carolina, the state has now become a haven for some of the most ideological and ill-considered tea party fantasies dressed up as legislation. Here are just a few of the bills being pushed in the house (and the senate) that Art Pope built:
Reverse Robin Hood: A GOP bill in the North Carolina Senate would eliminate all individual and corporate income taxes, and largely replace it with higher sales taxes. Sales taxes disproportionately burden lower-income taxpayers, because they spend a larger percentage of their income on basic needs. It is also far more difficult to create a progressive sales tax than to enact a progressive income tax code that places a lesser tax burden on those who can least afford it. As a result, a similar tax plan in Louisiana would raise taxes on 80 percent of residents, while giving Louisianans in the top 1 percent of income earners an average tax cut of $25,423.
Shutting Down Abortion Clinics: Another bill in the state senate would add new restrictions to abortion clinics in an attempt to force them to close their doors. Among other things, the bill requires doctors to have admitting privileges in a hospital located within 30 miles of the clinic, an unnecessary restriction that serves little purpose other than to limit the pool of doctors available to clinics.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/04/08/1832201/meet-the-north-carolina-legislature-the-new-ground-zero-for-tea-party-craziness/
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How One Multi-Millionaire Is Turning North Carolina Into A Tea Party Utopia (Original Post)
octoberlib
Apr 2013
OP
Isn't NC where they were introducing a bill for an official religion? nt
DollarBillHines
Apr 2013
#3
barbtries
(28,788 posts)1. i'm glad it's being covered all over the country.
nt
Scuba
(53,475 posts)2. It took two billionaires in Wisconsin. Or do the Kochs count as one?
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)6. Oh, the Kochs are involved in NC too.
Art Pope helped them found Americans for Prosperity.
DollarBillHines
(1,922 posts)3. Isn't NC where they were introducing a bill for an official religion? nt
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)4. Yep. It didn't go anywhere.
Not only did it violate the US Constitution, it violated the NC Constitution as well. Franklin Graham even opposed it.
DollarBillHines
(1,922 posts)5. I guess the baggers don't care about the Constitution.
Except for that 2nd Amendment part.
TM99
(8,352 posts)7. This so deeply saddens me!
I was born in TN, but I grew up in western NC. My parents taught there for decades. Both of my sisters attended UNC Chapel Hill. It was only recently that they now all live in the DC area.
I am shocked at how the Koch brothers Tea Party so thoroughly took that state over. The same occurred out here with Arizona.
Truly depressing. I wish North Carolinians the strength to survive it and fight it.