That’s because taxes are much higher in Cawlefornia (as Ahnode sez) and New York and has nothing to do with North Carolina not having collective bargaining. And the public employee unions are always trying to raise taxes.

And boo hoo, the unions are unhappy with Jerky Brown. What a crock. The only reason they are unhappy is because Brownie won’t rape the taxpayers even more for them.

“Critics of public sector unions….claim that collective bargaining by government is responsible for today’s budget deficits; that public sector unions, in league with allies in the Democratic Party, are lining the pockets of their members at taxpayers’ expense.

“The facts don’t support these allegations. There is little correlation between states that have public sector collective bargaining and states with large deficits. North Carolina, which lacks collective bargaining, projects a 10% budget shortfall for fiscal year 2013, nearly three times as great as that of New York (3.5%), the most densely unionized state. Nor is it the case that Democratic politicians simply pass out goodies to labor allies, the taxpayers be damned. Just ask unions in New York and California. They have complained loudly about their treatment at the hands of Democratic governors Andrew Cuomo and Jerry Brown.”

(Joseph A. McCartin teaches history at Georgetown University and is the author of “Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, the Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike that Changed America”)