Lynn Johnson: Legislators don’t need raises

Regarding the Feb. 10 news article “Legislators want to pay themselves more”: So our legislators want to give themselves a raise? Based on your story, the average legislator makes more for a part-time job than the average income for a working person in North Carolina earns in a year. Is this what they mean by “conservative values”?

If there is extra money in the budget, how about restoring the small tax breaks that used to be given to retirees? We were hit with income tax increases after their last round of tax reductions.

If they can’t live on $48,000 a year plus whatever they earn in “real life,” perhaps they can explain to retirees how we can live on less than half that.

This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 8:22 PM with the headline "Lynn Johnson: Legislators don’t need raises."