NC Renegades

As more information becomes available about the demands of the “Moral Monday” protestors, and their leaders in the state chapter of the NAACP, the price tag for their wish list grows exponentially.

Estimates now reach an eye-popping $10 billion to pay for the “people’s agenda.” That would mark a whopping 50 percent increase in the state budget. To fund the “Moral Monday” demands would cost every man, woman in child in North Carolina roughly an additional $1,000. That amounts to adding another $4,000 in taxes to the tax bill of each family of four.

As published yesterday, Civitas tallied a partial list of “Moral Monday” demands and arrived at an immediate budget impact of roughly $3 billion. The list was limited largely due to constraints in obtaining data.

Yesterday evening, however, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger’s office released the draft of a budget amendment that included cost estimates for many of the protesters’ demands. The estimates were put together by legislative staff and as such offers insights previously unavailable to Civitas.  Berger’s office months ago sent a letter to state NAACP head William Barber asking for specific policy recommendations. After Barber responded, Berger asked General Assembly staff members to draft an amendment that would include many of the points addressed in Barber’s letter.

The amendment calculates about $7 billion in annual additional costs to taxpayers. The largest item is $6.8 billion to provide funding for health insurance for all North Carolinians, regardless of immigration status. Included in the 14-point “people’s agenda” laid out by the state NAACP are the demands for “health care for all,” and “NC must provide immigrants with health care.”

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