The first goal of those with power is always to find a way to retain that power. In 2011, with control of the legislature, North Carolina Republicans accomplished this by redrawing the electoral maps, gerrymandering poor and black voters into irrelevance. (The state court that finally ruled on the move in October 2019 found the redistricting illegal, and rife with “partisan intent.”).
With their power thus secured, the state’s Republicans set about winding the clocks back a half-century. The state GOP also made quick work of granting its wealthy benefactors and other lucky corporatists some of the lowest corporate tax rates in the nation. Under the guiding hand of then-House Speaker Thom Tillis, now one of the state’s two U.S. senators, North Carolina dropped its estate tax for wealthy heirs and more than halved the corporate tax rate. More recently, in 2018, the party convinced voters to work against their long-term interests with regard to education and infrastructure by capping the state income tax rate at 7 percent.
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Article submitted by, Great Gazoo.
