Reform prevented sharp increase in taxes for state businesses
Like many other states, North Carolina was hit
hard by the 2008 recession. Rising unemployment rapidly drained the state’s
unemployment fund, and North Carolina borrowed from the federal government to
cover the shortfall. Going into 2013, the state had the fourth-highest
unemployment insurance debt in the nation, more than $2.5 billion. The state
faced a difficult decision on how to proceed.
Ultimately, the state legislature
passed legislation in February 2013 that cut benefit payments, reduced the
length of time the unemployed could receive benefits, and marginally raised
taxes on businesses. In doing so, the state lost its ability to participate in
a federal program providing funding for extended unemployment benefits, which
weren’t to be paid out to any state that cut benefits. However, the changes
averted potentially much higher unemployment fund taxes for businesses and will
allow the state to pay off its debt to the federal government in 2015, three
years earlier than planned. Going into 2013, NFIB backed the reform effort in
order to spare small businesses from huge hikes in unemployment taxes.
The plan met
with serious opposition from Democrats at the time, and a number have continued
to campaign against the issue. Notably, Sen. Kay Hagan (D) has made her
opposition to the benefits reform a key plank in her reelection campaign this
year, criticizing the GOP-controlled state legislature for the changes, calling
them “irresponsible.” The issue has been particularly important in the contest,
as Hagan’s likely challenger is Rep. Thom Tillis (R), Speaker of the state
House when the reform was passed.
At the time of
passage of the reform, Tillis and other Republicans criticized Hagan for not
getting a waiver for the state from the federal government to allow the state
to continue to participate in the extended unemployment benefits program. Hagan
has been pushing for a waiver, attaching it to Senate legislation to extend the
emergency unemployment benefits, which expired at the end of last year. That
legislation cleared the Democratic-controlled Senate on March 27. However, its
fate in the GOP-controlled House is far from certain.
Further Reading:
A New York Times piece from last year provides a
history of the changes, while WRAL-TV has a guide to the state’s unemployment
benefits program. The Jacksonville Daily News and the Charlotte Observer cover various efforts by
Hagan to pass a waiver, both the current one and the previous attempt in
December.
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