YOUR VOICE, YOUR VOTE: State Tax Revenue

March 4, 2016

The fundamental purpose of the revenue system is to fund investments in core public services—schools, courts, hospitals, colleges and universities, and infrastructure—that are critical to preserving a strong middle class and building a 21st century economy. Beginning in 2013, state lawmakers made significant changes to North Carolina’s revenue system, in particular large income tax cuts that largely benefit the well off and profitable corporation and shifted the tax load to low- and middle-income families and individuals while reducing the dollars available to ensure public services and systems are accessible in all communities. North Carolina’s tax code today:

• Is inequitable because it asks more from those with the least ability to pay and asks the least from those with the greatest ability to pay.
• Is inadequate because state revenues are insufficient to meet the needs of the state’s people and fail to keep pace with the state’s economic and population growth.
• Is unstable because numerous exemptions and loopholes make revenues more volatile in the face of ups and downs in the economy.