North Carolina Governor Stein Calls Property Tax Cap Amendment a 'Con Job'; Voters Decide November 3
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat, has publicly criticized two constitutional amendments that voters will decide in the November 3 midterm election, calling them "con jobs" that would shift a heavier tax burden onto working people, Realtor.com reported on October 23.
One amendment would require the state legislature to pass laws limiting property tax increases, without establishing what the cap would be. The other would lower the constitutional ceiling on personal and corporate income tax rates from 7 percent to 3.5 percent. Supporters say the property tax cap would stop "runaway property tax hikes"; House Speaker Destin Hall is a leading backer, and a John Locke Foundation study said property tax collections exceeded inflation plus population growth by $2.6 billion over a decade. An Elon University poll found 72 percent of voters backed limiting property tax increases.
Opponents include the League of Women Voters, the North Carolina Housing Coalition and the NC Budget & Tax Center, which calculated that a 2 percent property tax levy limit would save the average home just $84 per year while costing the state about $950 million, affecting schools, emergency services and parks. North Carolina's effective real-estate tax rate is 0.66 percent, ranking 33rd among the 50 states plus D.C., according to the Tax Foundation, with annual taxes of $1,896 on a median-value home.
Source: GSM·America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：罗利北卡罗来纳州议会大厦。摄影：Jim Bowen，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, by Jim Bowen, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
