RALEIGH – With the North Carolina House about to take up the budget-rescission bill that the Senate passed last week, and Gov. Beverly Perdue about to release her budget plan next week, now seems to be an opportune time to point out just how boring all this is.

Boring? How could a big political debate about how to close the state’s $3 billion budget deficit be boring?

Okay, I admit it. I may be pulling your leg just a little bit. Of course the prospect of billions of dollars in budget cuts, tax increases, or some combination commands our attention. Of course the fiscal, economic, and political implications are significant.

What I mean is that North Carolina’s budget woes aren’t appreciably different from those of most other states. As far as the rest of the nation is concerned, there is nothing newsworthy about the causes of North Carolina’s predicament.

Nationwide, states are projected a combined budget deficit for the coming fiscal year of about $140 billion. Just like North Carolina, most of these states relied heavily on federal borrowing to balance their budgets in 2009 and 2010. Those “stimulus” dollars won’t be returning in 2011.

Furthermore, several states joined North Carolina in relying on temporary tax hikes to close the 2009 and 2010 budget gaps. These tax increases are now expiring. Some state politicians, such as new Gov. Jerry Brown in California, want to renew those temporary taxes to avoid making big budget cuts this year. Other politicians, such as new Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York, are planning to implement the cuts instead of seeking more taxes.

Every argument we’re now hearing from Republicans and Democrats in Raleigh has its counterpart in other states. We’re hardly alone. That’s something to keep in mind as Perdue and the General Assembly move forward to negotiate a deal on a FY 2011-13 budget.

Because most other states are also grappling with budget deficits, and will be closing them with some combination of lower spending and higher taxes, North Carolina leaders need to pay attention to what’s going on elsewhere if they seek to make decisions most likely to improve our climate for job creation, investment, and entrepreneurship.

The 2010 elections brought Republican more power in state capitals than they have had since the late 1920s. The GOP now holds 29 of the nation’s governorships. It controls 25 state legislatures, including North Carolina’s, while Democrats control 15 and nine are split between the two parties (Nebraska’s legislature is unicameral and nonpartisan). Almost all of these Republican states, and a good number of the Democratic and split-control states, are going to balance their budgets primarily if not solely through spending reduction. They are not going to enact major tax increases. In some cases, their marginal tax rates on sales or income will be falling to pre-2009 levels, as North Carolina’s are scheduled to do next year.

If North Carolina bucks this trend and relies on tax hikes, either new or extended, our competitive position will suffer. We already tax and spend a bit more than average, with little to show for it in the form of better-than-average outcomes.

As a proud North Carolinian, I’m all for charting our own course when it comes to pursuing truly innovative solutions to difficult problems in education, health care, transportation, and other areas. But I think it would be unwise for North Carolina to lean heavily on taxes while competing states rely mostly on budget savings to address our respective fiscal gaps. That will leave other states better positioned to compete for the businesses, investors, and entrepreneurs most likely to drive economic growth in the coming years.

Such a decision would hardly be a badge of honor for North Carolina. Instead, it would constitute a big red sign with big white letters telling would-be job creators to STOP before entering the North Carolina market.

Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation.