Sen. Rucho Discovers That "Trickle-Down" Does Not Work

Bob Rucho

Sen. Bob Rucho, the transplanted Yankee who represents Mecklenburg County in the NC General Assembly, was whining about higher Carolina Panthers ticket prices. (For the record, Rucho is one of the most powerful legislators in Raleigh, co-chair of the Finance Committee and one of the chief writers of the Republican budget for the state.)

Corporate tax rates in NC stood at 6.9 percent in 2013 before falling to 6 percent in 2014. This year, the statewide corporate rate declined to 5 percent. In 2014, the N.C. General Assembly (gee, thanks, Sen. Rucho!) added sales tax to sports and entertainment tickets.

Now listen to His Brilliance carp and complain: “I told [Panthers president Danny] Morrison this the other day: I said, ‘You know, we lowered your corporate taxes, we lowered the [personal] income tax, we cleaned up the issue of what was a [3 percent gross-receipts] tax embedded into my Panther tickets and yet for the last two years I’ve increased [my payments because of higher prices],’ ” Rucho said. “‘Explain to me why that is.’ ”

"My Panther tickets." For this Republican and for many others in positions of power, it's always about my comfort, what I can get out of this, what profits accrue to me.

As far as anyone's explaining the failures of trickle-down to conservatives, good luck with that project!

Hattip: LE