Tax Cut Favored Way to Stimulate Economic Growth and Jobs

Poll asks, "Who do you think is better able to create jobs and rebuild the economy?"

May 12, 2009

NC NEWS -- The Civitas Institute hired McLaughlin and Associates of Alexandria, Virginia, to conduct a live caller poll of 600 voters. According to Civitas Institute these North Carolina voters were asked, "Who do you think is better able to create jobs and rebuild the economy?" Overwhelmingly, 59.7 percent selected small business and entrepreneurs while only 18 percent responded large corporations. Moreover, 9 percent responded that the government was better able to create jobs and rebuild the economy. Additionally, 3.5 percent chose nonprofit organizations as best qualified, and 9.8 percent of the 600 voters had no opinion.

Furthermore, The polling of the 600 likely general election voters in North Carolina was conducted between April 21, 2009 and April 23, 2009. All interviews were conducted via the telephone by professional interviewers. Interview selection was picked randomly within predetermined geographic units. These units were structured to correlate with actual voter distributions in a statewide general election. The poll has an accuracy of +/- 4.0% at a 95% confidence interval.

The Civitas Poll is also the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues and policies facing North Carolina. Meanwhile, Executive Director of the Civitas Institute, Francis De Luca said, "Voters are keenly aware of the power of small businesses and entrepreneurs to create jobs and grow the economy. Less than one in ten voters thought government was the best vehicle to create jobs. This seems to contradict current economic policy in Washington and Raleigh where government is raising, rather than cutting, taxes on small businesses."

The same voters also indicated a strong preference for business incentives in the form of tax cuts. More than 85 percent of respondents would approve of a proposal to cut small business tax burdens in the state by 10 percent. In contrary, 10.3 percent indicated opposition to this proposal and 4.5 percent had no opinion.

De Luca continued by saying, "Unfortunately, North Carolina's economic development policy has been geared towards giving handouts to large corporations while maintaining a punitive high tax rate on small businesses. Despite the budget deficit, voters recognize that providing tax relief to small businesses should be made a priority in order to create jobs."

Oh how very true Mr. De Luca, but I wonder just how many of these One North Carolina Fund grants and Job Development Investment Grants have been actually collected since the beginning of the current recession? These Grants are contingent on the creation of jobs. However, are these Government favored large corporations likely to meet their commitment in this stale N.C. economy - probably not. Even though the grants may not be collected, time and energy was spent by these companies, county and state collaborations in negotiating these One NC Grants and Job Development Investment Grants, will equal forgone opportunity. Remember people, this is time and energy that were spent by partnerships include county and state salaries, that could have been indiscriminately spent helping "established" North Carolina businesses.