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1 Year After H.R. 1, North Carolina Budget Leaves Families and Counties to Pay the Price
Budget approved by state lawmakers fails to fund new SNAP costs while continuing tax cuts that primarily benefit wealthy households and profitable corporations RALEIGH, N.C. — One year after H.R. 1 was signed into law, North Carolina lawmakers have approved a state budget that compounds the federal law’s harm. H.R. 1 made historic cuts to…
Final Budget Preserves Tax Cuts While Shifting Costs to Counties and Families
On Tuesday morning, North Carolina lawmakers released their final budget for FY 2026-27 after leaving the state operating without a budget since July 2025. As previously reported, the budget makes only slight changes to scheduled personal income tax cuts and leaves untouched the continued reduction – and eventual elimination – of the corporate income tax….
Statement on Legislative Budget by Alexandra Sirota, Executive Director of the NC Budget & Tax Center
A budget that continues tax cuts primarily benefiting the richest North Carolinians alongside highly profitable corporations and their out-of-state shareholders is a bad budget for North Carolina. After a full year without a state budget — and the real harm caused by delaying planning, disrupting contracts, and reducing services for families, businesses, and communities across…
New SNAP Error Rate Reveals Why North Carolina Cannot Afford to Limit Revenue
Starting October 2027, North Carolina could be responsible for paying $140 million in SNAP benefit costs, according to newly released U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Nearly 1.3 million North Carolinians will be counting on the state to fully cover those costs so they can continue putting food on the table. The need for food assistance will not simply disappear because North Carolina cannot afford to sustain it. If state…
Juneteenth, tax policy, and the ongoing work of freedom
As our nation approaches its 250th anniversary, Juneteenth offers an opportunity not only to celebrate freedom, but also to reflect on how people have shaped our country throughout its history. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Texas finally learned they were free — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. It…
“Right to Work” is wrong for North Carolina
Data and analysis adapted from the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) extensive body of research on right-to-work laws, especially their work on the impact of RTW on state economies, on unions reducing inequities and strengthening democracy, on RTW in Montana, and on obstacles standing in the way of unionization. So-called “right-to-work” (RTW) laws have existed in North Carolina since 1947. But NC policymakers are pushing…
North Carolina should focus on feeding families, not flawed SNAP error rates
Note: This resource was updated on June 10, 2026 so that it reflects the $58 threshold for inclusion in SNAP error rate calculations. Overview of H.R. 1 Error Rate-Based Cost Shift The harmful federal megabill passed in 2025, H.R. 1, made deep funding cuts to the SNAP program, risking access to food assistance for the nearly 1.3 million North Carolinians who need…
New Poll: North Carolinians want lawmakers to fund families’ priorities, not more tax breaks for the wealthy
Majority say the economy is moving in the wrong direction, state policies benefit the wealthy, and tax cuts have not delivered for everyday people RALEIGH — A new poll finds that North Carolinians believe the state’s economy is moving in the wrong direction for everyday people and that state economic policies are more likely to…
House Bill 1046: NC Economic Progress & Well Being
Report on data that captures economic security and well-being of people Link to HB 1046, filed April 23, 2026 Download a PDF of this brief HB 1046 Summary: This bill would require the NC Department of Commerce to supplement their reporting on traditional measures of economic activity with a report focused on measures of economic…