Our friends at the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center shared this detailed article about the potential harms of the two politically-motivated constitutional tax amendments that will be on our ballots this fall.

The tax amendments on your ballot this November—one on the income tax and the other on property tax—will lock in the tax-cutting that has delivered the greatest breaks to millionaires, billionaires and profitable corporations and their shareholders and put the foundations for well-being at risk—public education, health care and more.

The income tax amendment would set a maximum rate of 3.5% in the state constitution. That’s right above where the rate will fall next January for everyone, so it won’t be a tax cut. Instead, it will prevent proposals like the Fair Share for Public Schools Act which would raise the rate to 7 percent just on income over $1 million or the Kids Over Corporations Act which would raise the rate on corporate profits to 5 percent and be more in line with our neighbors in South Carolina and Virginia.

Lawmakers are already able to bring tax rates to a low level through the policy process. A change to the state Constitution makes current tax choices and their impacts more permanent. A lower income tax rate gives 2 out of every 3 tax cut dollars to the richest 20% in North Carolina each year while more than 9 out of every 10 dollars from corporate tax cuts are sent to out-of-state residents. Meanwhile, the state would lose $17 billion in capacity, more than half of our state budget each year, for our schools, hospitals and health care providers, childcare providers and disaster recovery efforts that are already underfunded.

You can read more about the income tax amendment here.

The property tax amendment would require the NC General Assembly to set a limit on property tax increases that local governments can enact. The NC General Assembly already has the authority to set such a limit without enacting unnecessary and potentially permanent changes to our state constitution. State lawmakers also already have the authority to budget for meaningful support for homeowners with fixed and low incomes who are facing unaffordable property tax bills. But here again, the property tax levy limit will give outsized benefits to large property owners, corporations and high-end developments, and limited relief to homeowners. That’s because a levy limit is limiting what local governments collect overall, not what homeowners pay individually.

New research from the NC Housing Coalition finds that on average a homeowner would save just $84 a year on the likely levy limit state legislators would likely adopt, while local governments would lose $950 million. That’s roughly equivalent to what local governments pay each year for all public libraries, all public buses, and all locally-funded teaching positions, 6200, combined.

You can read more about the property tax amendment here.

Pro-Choice NC's take:

Tax policy should be about ensuring the government has the resources it needs to support all of its constituents, not about lining the pockets of the wealthiest among us. Reproductive justice means providing families and individuals with the support they need to bring up their children in safe and healthy environments. Rather than protect and support North Carolina residents, these amendments would enshrine more power to the state legislature, which is increasingly more invested in lining the pockets of their wealthy lobbyists and special interests donors than governing for a robust, healthy, safe, and prosperous state.

We urge voters to vote “no” on both of these amendments this fall!