GOP crowing over CNBC study touting NC for business

A week after S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley's jobs-recruitment victory lap through York and Chester counties just south of Charlotte, N.C. Republican leaders are pointing to a new CNBC study as evidence that the Tar Heel State isn't getting crushed by the Palmetto State or other economic development rivals on their watch. The study ranked North Carolina No. 5 (Georgia was No. 1, followed by perennial development powerhouse Texas). The study measured a range of factors; North Carolina ranked most strongly on the health of its economy and the quality of its workforce.

South Carolina ranked a distant 24th, earning its strongest ranking for its low cost of doing business. N.C. Republican Party Chairman Claude Pope issued a statement calling the study proof that the GOP's legislative agenda, which includes rolling back tax rates and revamping job recruitment, is working. "North Carolina is getting back to work," he said.

Gov. Pat McCrory and his GOP allies have rewritten
the state's job-recruitment playbook

Critics -- including some insiders in economic development circles -- grouse that the state has traditionally ranked high in such measures, the effects of the recent recession notwithstanding. The new lower corporate and individual tax rates took effect in January, and it was just on Tuesday that McCrory signed into law the reorganization of the Commerce Department's job-recuitment function.

Republicans, the critics say, "fixed" a job-recruitment system that wasn't broken. Democrats, powerless in Raleigh after decades of wielding legislative power, say the tax cuts have benefitted the wealthy while weakening funding for schools and universities, traditionally areas of competitive advantage for North Carolina relative to its Southern neighbors. With such high political stakes riding on job production numbers in an election year, we're sure to hear plenty more of this debate in the months ahead.

New N.C. jobs plan headed to McCrory's desk

At a Charlotte Chamber luncheon, the head of the N.C. Economic Development Board said the panel will present a new economic development roadmap for the state to Gov. Pat McCrory on Friday. Board Chairman John Lassiter told the chamber's Metro Chapter Wednesday that the document will provide a roadmap for the new privatized economic development agency the state is creating. Lassiter didn't detail the particulars of the plan, but said in general it will cover a range of issues the state confronts in trying to grow more industry and jobs.

For one thing, he said the board studied areas where the state could better capitalize on areas where it already shows some strength. For instance, he said, the state is one of the nation's leading producers of plastics, but has a dearth of related chemical companies. It is among the largest sweet potato growers, but has few processing plants, he said.

"We think we've got a roadmap to recovery," he said.

The new plan will guide the nonprofit Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, which sometime this year is expected to assume the N.C. Department of Commerce's job of marketing the state to companies and recruiting new jobs and industry. Earlier this month, Triangle-area business executive Dick Lindenmuth was appointed to lead the new agency.

"A lot of things have to take place over the next six months, but I think we'll be totally operational by about June or July," he told reporters before his speech.

S.C. boasts more millionaires per capita than N.C.

Hold on to your tarred heels, folks. There's a new study out that says South Carolina has more millionaires per capita than North Carolina. That's right. The state that even suffers mobile home jokes from its own representative to the Miss America pageant, ranks 43rd in a new study by Phoenix Global Wealth Monitor, a service that tracks affluent households.

The Palmetto state has 76,831 households with $1 million or more in investable assets, according to the study, which is 4.2 percent of total households.

North Carolina has 158,447 millionaire households, or 4.1 percent. That ranks us 44th.

Right below South Carolina. Anybody got a problem with that?

Boeing deadline day arrives

Today's the deadline for Charlotte and the dozen or more other interested states and cities to submit applications in hopes of landing the Boeing plant that will build the new 777X airliner. It's perhaps the biggest job recruitment prize to come up for grabs around here in years. If Gov. Pat McCrory and Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker feel good about the locations the state is submitting for Boeing's consideration, they weren't saying yesterday when my colleagues and I asked about it during a Charlotte Chamber event.

Several people I've talked to in N.C. economic development circles privately question whether North Carolina really has a fighting chance. They speculate that Boeing is just shopping the plant around to get the union there in Washington state to accept concessions. (If this letter from an upset Boeing machinist is any guide, the company's ties to the Puget Sound region run extremely deep, and yet union sentiment is strongly against the deal). Judging from this New York Times report, and other things I've read, it appears the machinists feel their experience and expertise in building airplanes make it a risky proposition for Boeing to go elsewhere. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee went so far as to use the words "potential disaster" to describe the kind of delays Boeing has seen at its Charleston, S.C. plant.

Clearly Washington's not letting its largest private employer go without a fight. Lawmakers there last month passed an $8.7 billion incentives package that some call the largest in U.S. history. Is Boeing worth that high a price? I guess we'll see soon enough what North Carolina and Charlotte have to say about that.

Confused by the N.C. tax law changes? This will help

The N.C. General Assembly made so many changes to the tax code last session that most of us are still trying to figure out exactly what it all means. And, if you're anything like me, what you're really wondering is: did they figure out a new way to stick it to me come tax time? Help is on the way for confused taxpayers in the form a new online summary of the tax changes, courtesy of the N.C. Association of Certified Public Accountants.

The summary, in an easy-to-follow chart format, lays out all the changes. A couple have already come to the notice of Observer readers, who wrote me after my broader story about the tax changes was published last Sunday. Several seniors wanted to know why under some scenarios retirees were seeing tax hikes. No changes were made to the way Social Security is taxed, but you'll note from the chart that a deduction for the first $2,000 of private retirement income such as IRAs or 401ks is going away. Also noticed by readers: no more deducting medical expenses -- something that could have an impact on seniors living in nursing facilities who receive thousands of dollars worth of medical care annually. And of particular interest to small business owners, the deduction for the first $50,000 of net business income -- $100,000 for couples filing jointly -- also goes away.

I suspect there are many more taxpayers who will get lowered bills than those who will see increases. Still, there's lots to think about with the new tax law. Bonus note: the chart also very handily lets you know when the various changes actually take effect.