Yesterday Civitas posted an article estimating the cost to taxpayers of a partial list of the demands of the Moral Monday/NAACP crowd. Then yesterday evening, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger's office released a draft of a budget amendment that was drawn up by General Assembly staff that included several of the MM/NAACP demands.
The Berger amendment enabled Civitas to assign cost estimates on several more demands. With the additional data, we have been able to identify roughly $10 billion in costs to comply with the "Moral Monday" demands.
That amount is an annual figure that would most likely grow over time. For some perspective, a $10 billion increase in spending would mark a 50% increase in the state's General Fund budget. It would cost each NC family of four an additional $4,000 each year in taxes.
Not only would the dramatic increase in taxes required to fund these demands crush our state's economy, the MM crowd also wants to destroy thousands of job opportunities by pricing low-skilled workers out of the workforce via an increase in the minimum wage.
Tallying a price tag to the "Moral Monday"/NAACP protester's demands reveals just how extremist they are.