Vote NO on amendments that lock in limits
Published 3:07 p.m. today
Three constitutional amendments sit at the end of North Carolina’s November 3 ballot, far from the attention given to the U.S. Senate race. Two would limit taxes. The third would write photo ID for all voting into the constitution. Little changes on November 4. What changes is what lawmakers can do for years afterward.
Hard to undo by design
Christopher Cooper, a Western Carolina University political scientist, writes in The Assembly that three-fifths of each chamber can put an amendment on the ballot, with no governor’s veto. Voters have approved 42 of 52 proposals since 1970. A law can be repealed by another law, but an amendment takes another amendment. Cooper says that gives a party a “lasting public policy legacy,” even if it later loses power.
And even some Republicans have doubts about the need for the amendments. Former Republican House leader Skip Stam told The Assembly that some GOP House members backed the amendments reluctantly so the Senate would pass the budget.
The income tax cap doesn’t cut your taxes
The first amendment would bar the state from raising the income tax rate above 3.5%. Cooper notes the rate is already set to drop below that in 2027, and The Assembly’s Sarah Nagem and Morgan Casey report it is scheduled to reach 2.99% by 2033. The cap doesn’t lower your bill. It limits how future lawmakers can respond.
According to Nagem and Casey, income taxes supply about half of the general fund, which pays for schools and state employee salaries. Gov. Josh Stein has warned of $2.8 billion in cuts in 2028. Senate leader Phil Berger and other Republicans reply that past warnings of shortfalls haven’t come true.
Nagem and Casey also report that the combined state and local tax rate for the lowest 40% of earners has risen from 9% to more than 10% since Republicans took power, while the rate for top earners fell from 9.7% to 7.5%.
A property tax limit with no number
The second amendment asks for “limits on property tax increases by local governments.” Per the same reporting, it doesn’t say how tight the limit would be. Lawmakers decide later. Voters are asked to approve a limit without being told what it is.
Property taxes provide about half of county budgets and build schools, fix roads and supplement teacher pay. UNC School of Government expert Chris McLaughlin told The Assembly that counties have few other ways to raise revenue, and that the question is “who should be making those choices.” Critics cited in the article warn of offsetting sales taxes and fees, which hit lower-income residents harder.
Scotland County offers a preview. Nagem and Casey report that a revaluation raised property values by an average of 60% in a county where about 23% of residents live in poverty. Commissioners cut the tax rate nearly 30%, but many bills will still rise. The county has raised EMS fees, put a sales tax increase on the ballot and voted to outsource ambulance service. That is one county’s budget before any cap.
What polls miss
An Elon poll cited by both articles found 68% support for the income tax cap and 71% for the property tax limit. Cooper notes that more than half of Democrats polled backed the two tax amendments. Alexandra Forter Sirota of the NC Budget & Tax Center told The Assembly she expects voters to be put off by the property tax amendment’s vague wording once they read it.
Once language is in the constitution, it tends to stay. If these amendments pass, schools and local services will live with them for years. Vote NO.
Reprinted from The Assembly, North Carolina’s largest independent newsroom. Read their full stories on the proposed amendments at online: https://www.
