Statement Against State Constitutional Amendments on the November Ballot from Alexandra Sirota, Executive Director of the NC Budget & Tax Center

The NC Budget & Tax Center opposes both proposed constitutional tax amendments on North Carolina’s November ballot, as well as the proposed photo identification requirement for voting.

North Carolina’s Future is at Stake

These ballot measures would put a limit on our future.

Taken together, these state Constitutional changes prevent elected officials from making good policy that protects well-being and delivers greater shared prosperity.

The income tax amendment would cap the maximum income tax rate permitted by the NC Constitution at 3.5 percent, a change that would hinder future lawmakers from being able to respond to changing economic conditions and ensure North Carolina communities have strong schools, affordable child care, and the ability to respond to public health and climate disasters. These tax amendments won’t cut anyone’s taxes, but they would make it more difficult for future lawmakers to fairly raise the revenue needed to meet costs through a higher rate on millionaires, billionaires, and highly profitable corporations.

The property tax amendment would require state legislators to put a limit on the growth in property tax revenue collections. It would undermine local decision-making about how communities fund schools, emergency services, libraries, and more, even as communities are trying to respond to rising costs. The property tax amendment wouldn’t provide meaningful relief to homeowners. Instead, it would give outsized breaks to corporate property owners and high-value properties.

The photo ID amendment adds a further barrier to voting itself, making it harder for eligible North Carolinians — particularly those with the fewest resources — to have a say about critical policy issues, such as how policies can make life more affordable and protect the safety and well-being of our communities.

North Carolina’s Leaders Need More Tools, Not Fewer

These amendments are being pushed at a moment when North Carolina families are already facing rising costs for child care, health care, and food. Rather than preserving the tools elected officials need to respond to that pressure, both tax amendments would permanently strip them away. Written into the Constitution, these tax amendments would be far harder to undo than ordinary legislation. Restricting who can vote at the same time compounds the problem: It weakens the public’s ability to push back at all.

Bottom Line:  Vote Against the Constitutional Amendments this November

North Carolinians should vote against all three measures this November. Our state constitution shouldn’t be used to guarantee that the wealthiest few and profitable corporations never have to contribute what they owe through taxes. We should not tie the hands of local governments and future state lawmakers, preventing them from making responsible decisions for our communities while making it harder for the people to have a voice in our democracy.