Carolina Journal Radio No. 830: Sustainable budgeting key to recent N.C. success

North Carolina has been able to cut tax rates in recent years without having to slash state services. That’s thanks to sustainable budget practices. Joseph Coletti, John Locke Foundation senior fellow, outlines several key steps lawmakers have taken to pursue sustainable budgets. When Margaret Spellings wrapped up her tenure as president of the University of North Carolina System, she offered the Board of Governors a positive assessment of UNC’s current state. Shannon Watkins, policy associate at the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, says Spellings and other university leaders might be viewing UNC through “rose-colored glasses.” Watkins explains why the actual picture isn’t as bright as Spellings suggested. State lawmakers deal with important issues. They also deal with ice cream. One bill moving through the General Assembly would designate ice cream as the state’s official frozen treat. North Carolina’s congressional election map headed back to the U.S. Supreme Court recently. You’ll hear highlights from oral arguments, including pointed questions from Supreme Court justices about partisan gerrymandering. Supporters of Medicaid expansion in North Carolina want to fund their proposal with a new tax on health care providers. Jordan Roberts, John Locke Foundation health policy analyst, analyzes the proposed tax and the problems it could create.