Now we know what a puppet feels like. The House carefully and artfully painted the doomsday picture of the devastating budget cuts to vital programs they were about to make. Because of the economic recession they were going to be forced to cut more than $4 billion from the continuation budget. One House subcommittee after another came forward with the bad news. Appropriations chair Mickey Michaux solemnly talked about the pain that was sure to result in the budget cuts the House was making. Then House Democrats waited for the outpouring of reaction they knew would follow.

The campaign was as well designed as any battle plan and, it now appears, highly effective. Isn’t it a bit interesting that suddenly, from out of the blue, House leadership put forth a tax increase plan that included a quarter-cent hike in sales taxes, increased taxes on services, and income tax increases on high income citizens? A pretty comprehensive plan that raises $940 million in new revenues.

While none of us wants our taxes raised, it’s not the tax increase that has me so bothered. I have said all along that lawmakers couldn’t cut their way out of this budget mess. By the way, do not for one moment think this means that I favor higher taxes. We are in much the same spot we were in when former Governor Jim Martin, a Republican who campaigned on a “no new taxes” platform, came to the conclusion that there was no way to resolve the budget crisis and brokered a “temporary tax increase” with legislators.

Were it not for the pain that would be caused to so many it would be good to let lawmakers stew in this pot they created. But if they are going to sell this plan to us as the best solution I, for one, want to hear legislative leaders tell me two things. First, they have learned the lessons from years of piling on new and expanded programs without ever seriously reducing or eliminating older and out-of-date programs. They should own up to the fact that they just cannot continue to increase the size and cost of government with no accountability to us who pay for it. And, most importantly, they  should pledge they are going to change the budget process;  they are going to return to the days of zero-based budgeting where every program comes under the microscope on a regular basis to determine how effective and valuable it is. There is waste, duplication and inefficiency in government but you can’t find it when you aren’t looking and across the board cuts are a lazy man’s way out of budget problems.

No, the part that angers me is that I we have been jerked around, much like a puppet. It feels like this was part of a carefully scripted play, a drama in which the outcome was predetermined. Maybe I’m being too cynical but if true we, the citizens of North Carolina, deserve better than this.