State spending in N.C. has declined in past 10 years

A new report from a liberal-leaning advocacy group says that state spending in North Carolina, when adjusted for inflation and population growth, has declined in the last decade.
The report from the N.C. Budget & Tax Center says that per-capita state appropriations, adjusted for consumer prices, are budgeted to be $2,304 in the fiscal year that ends in 2009. In fiscal 1999, the inflation-adjusted, per-capita figure was $2,226, the report says.
The report also says that appropriations to the General Fund are 6.7 percent of the state’s total personal income in fiscal 2009, down from 7 percent in fiscal 1999.
The Budget & Tax Center is part of the N.C. Justice Center, a nonprofit, anti-poverty organization.
The organization says its report is meant to combat what it calls the “myth” that state spending has risen precipitously in North Carolina in the last decade. The recession earlier this decade took a big cut from per-capita spending, the organization says, that wasn’t fully restored until fiscal 2008.