Road trip: largely unnoticed, republican lawmakers have prioritized higher spending on the state's transportation network.

• Author: Hood, John
• Position: FREE + CLEAR

One of the biggest increases in state investment in decades has occurred under Republican rule in Raleigh--but it wouldn't surprise me to discover that you've heard little or nothing about this.

The standard political narrative is that Democrats spend and Republicans cut taxes. That has been a chief priority for GOP leaders, and frequently criticized by Democratic ones. Beginning in 2011, the conservative-led General Assembly, joined by former Gov. Pat McCrory in 2013, devised and implemented the largest tax cuts in the history of North Carolina. The state's tax burden has fallen by billions of dollars a year, a new 5.25% flat income tax has become a national model for pro-growth reform, and a low and declining corporate tax rate (slated to fall to 2.5% in 2019) has become a centerpiece of the state's economic-development pitch.

To say these tax changes have precluded significant spending on core services doesn't convey the full picture. For one thing, the second-largest tax cut in North Carolina history occurred in 1995 under a Democratic governor (Jim Hunt), a Democratic Senate and a Republican House. For another, the Republicans in power since 2011 haven't ignored the spending side of the budget. It has risen every year. After years of decline or stagnation, the average pay of teachers in North Carolina's public schools is rising, too. While still not much to brag about, the state now ranks 31st in the nation, up about 10 notches from a decade ago when adjusted for differences in cost of living. Teacher pay may approach the national median as the legislature's new 9.6% average raise for teachers is implemented over the next two years.

Still, liberals can certainly argue that North Carolina could have spent more on education, health care and other services if the legislature had not enacted tax cuts. A dollar used for one thing is a dollar than can't be used for something else. While tax reduction and reform may induce economic growth over time, which in turn feeds more revenue back into the treasury in the long run, there is no disputing that state government has taken in less revenue since 2011 than it would have in the absence of tax cuts.

The problem is that, so far, I've been using terms such as "state budget" and "tax cuts" and "revenue" in a loose fashion. I'm not alone. While North Carolina's total state budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year will exceed $50 billion, virtually all media coverage of the General Assembly focuses on the...