Guest Blog Post: Senate tax measure would increase costs, hurt N.C. communities

Thanks to Cedric Johnson from the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center for guest posting for us about the budget debate in North Carolina. For more information we urge you to visit the North Carolina Tax and Budget Center’s website. 

By: Cedric Johnson, Policy Analyst North Carolina Budget and Tax Center

North Carolina Senators are pushing to make changes to the state constitution, and, in doing so, would sacrifice things we need to help ensure that communities across the state thrive. The proposal, Senate Bill 817, would change the state’s constitution to prevent the rate of the state income tax from ever going up. This would lock in and forever guarantee the large income tax cuts pushed through by state leaders since 2013 that have largely benefited the wealthy and powerful corporations.

North Carolina Senators are pushing to make changes to the state constitution, and, in doing so, would sacrifice things we need to help ensure that communities across the state thrive. The proposal, Senate Bill 817, would change the state’s constitution to prevent the rate of the state income tax from ever going up. This would lock in and forever guarantee the large income tax cuts pushed through by state leaders since 2013 that have largely benefited the wealthy and powerful corporations.

The bill permanently caps the state’s personal income tax rate at 5.5 percent. With the personal income tax rate already set to fall to 5.499 percent on Jan. 1, 2017, the cap would cut off a vital source of revenue. This is just the next phase of state leaders’ efforts to drastically alter the state’s tax system – which means that North Carolina cannot make sure that communities from the mountains to the coast can thrive. It also means that middle- and low-income communities are pushed into further economic straits because they have to carry a heavier tax load than the powerful.

Here are reasons why this proposal is bad for North Carolina.

• Would lead to increased sales and property taxes. Proposal will force lawmakers to rely on other revenue sources—like the sales tax and property tax—and raise those rates to offset the loss of the income tax as a revenue source. Or it will just further drive an increased reliance on fees or other ways of financing public services like privatization or borrowing.

• Would risk our state’s respected AAA bond rating. States that have set in place these kinds of tax and budget restrictions often face higher borrowing costs as their bond ratings are downgraded. This is a bad business decision for our state. It would mean higher costs to borrowing for everything from ConnectNC projects to local governments’ school construction.

• Would make North Carolina unable to ensure communities thrive. We are already losing more than $1.5 billion per year due to deep income tax cuts, which primarily benefit the wealthy. The cuts are reducing opportunity—as illustrated by long waiting lists for early childhood education programs and in-home services for older adults, too few textbooks and teacher assistants, overburdened courts, and the gutting of environmental protections. The revenue loss is preventing us from catching up after the recession, let alone keeping up with growing needs.

• Wouldn’t give lawmakers power to do anything they can’t already do through the legislative process. Policymakers have already cut income taxes and held the current budget proposals to the formula of population plus inflation growth. Changing the state constitution in this way would limit the tools available for future lawmakers to make fiscally responsible and timely choices. It would make lawmakers less accountable to North Carolinians. If this proposal goes into effect, it’s not going away, no matter how future voters feel.

• It would lock in the tax decisions that have primarily benefited the wealthy. Low, flat income tax rates deliver the greatest benefit to the wealthiest North Carolinians, and this proposal to make the income tax rate structure permanent locks in the tax decisions made in recent years that have benefited the powerful.

We elect our legislators to use their judgment to make North Carolina a stronger, more prosperous state – not to take away from future lawmakers the ability to use their judgment to meet needs as they arise. This proposal threatens our future.

Here’s a link to BTC’s fact sheet on Senate Bill 817.

Learn more about how Senate Bill 817 would put N.C.’s AAA-bond rating at risk.

Learn more about how Senate Bill 817 would lock in tax giveaways for the powerful. 

Find out more about how we need to #GetNCBackonTrack.