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Analysis Projects Possible $1B Gap; GOP Says It Won't Happen

The North Carolina Legislative Office Building in Raleigh. Photo: Wikimedia contributor W. Edward Callis III for Creative Commons http://bit.ly/2tExXwj

A report says the new North Carolina state budget could contribute to $1 billion in annual shortfalls by 2020. But Republican legislators who drew up the tax and spending plans remain confident that won't happen.

The shortfalls were projected in the analysis requested by state Senate Democrats and received just after the legislature adjourned their annual work session. The report by nonpartisan legislative staff was made public on Monday.

For Democrats, the analysis reinforces their viewpoint that the tax changes they opposed would blow holes in future budgets, requiring spending cuts, higher taxes or a combination to balance them.

Republican leaders say they have no plans to increase spending at the levels the analysis envisions. And they say tax cuts have been contributing to economic growth, which in turn generates more revenue.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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