They call it a "Taxpayer Bill of Rights," but what it really does is prevent lawmakers from doing what they already often fail to do: think.
The measure is a lot like mandatory sentencing, the misguided attempt to throw the book at criminals by handcuffing judges' discretion to tailor sentences to the crime and the criminal who committed it. The result was overflowing prisons and rising crime rates as young offenders took advantage of the advanced criminal schooling available from fellow inmates.
Now we have state senators who want to limit their own discretion in taxing and spending. They would cap the state's personal income-tax rate at 5 percent, limit state budget increases to the rates of inflation and population growth and create an emergency savings fund that's untouchable without a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate.
The emergency fund has merit, although it's hard to see why it needs to be enshrined in a constitutional amendment. We already have a "rainy day fund," although lawmakers have been too lax about refilling it when the sun shines.
But the other two measures would handcuff the General Assembly when the state faces genuine emergencies - like the Great Recession, whose fallout is still slowing our economic growth.
What happens in the next big financial turndown if revenues drop precipitously and there isn't enough money to maintain our public schools? Do we just start firing teachers, because a temporary tax increase would be unconstitutional? It could happen.
And what if the condition of our transportation infrastructure continues to decline? What if our roads and bridges and railways become dangerous and need more work than the budget will allow? Do we just shrug, because a larger budget increase is unconstitutional, and let bridges topple and interstate highways crumble?
We've had temporary tax increases before, with "sunset" dates attached, and they've gone away after the problem was solved. The truth is that North Carolina lawmakers have traditionally been a pretty parsimonious lot, especially when we compare our taxes with those in other regions of the country. We've also gotten something out of that spending in the past: a robust economy, a well-educated workforce and, not all that many years ago, a reputation as the "good roads state."
Putting budget handcuffs on our lawmakers, instead of trusting them to do what we pay them for, could consign all of that to history's dustbin.
