Statement on property tax amendment from Alexandra Sirota, Executive Director, NC Budget & Tax Center

Today, the NC General Assembly House Finance Committee voted to advance House Bill 1089, a constitutional amendment ballot measure that would limit the ability of local governments to raise property tax revenue.

Across-the-board limits like this do not target relief to the people who need it most. Instead, they often provide the greatest benefit to higher-value property owners while doing little to help seniors and families with low incomes remain in their homes.

Today, committee members heard clear concerns about the new pressures this proposal would place on local budgets and on our children’s classrooms, community health, and the ability of families to connect to opportunity. They also heard how years of income tax cuts for wealthy households and profitable corporations have already shifted significant costs onto local communities. Advancing this bill ignores the realities families across NC are facing instead of addressing them with meaningful solutions.

If lawmakers are serious about affordability, there are better options. NC can strengthen targeted property tax relief programs and ensure the state covers the cost of those efforts, helping families stay in their homes without undermining the services that keep communities strong. Instead, House leaders seem to want to suggest they will work on a solution but won’t commit state resources to the problem.

Limiting how local governments fund essential services will not make housing more affordable. Property taxes are the backbone of local communities, supporting public school buildings, emergency services, infrastructure, and other investments that families rely on every day.

North Carolinians know all too well, when revenue is restricted and promises that tax cuts will benefit them are made, that costs don’t disappear — they shift. Communities may be forced to cut services or rely more heavily on fees and other costs that fall hardest on families already struggling to make ends meet.

Lawmakers should carefully consider the long-term impact on schools, emergency services, and local economies across NC, and vote against advancing this proposal further.

NC’s communities need flexibility to respond to rising costs and growing needs — not rigid limits that weaken their ability to serve the people who live there.