This fall, North Carolinians will be voting on a constitutional amendment that would require limits on property tax increases by local governments. Given our cost of living crisis, it’s understandable that residents would want to support ways to get more money in our pockets. But a new analysis from Carolina Forward shows just how much residents stand to lose and how much corporations will gain if the amendment passes.
“It will have a detrimental impact on every child in this community, every resident in this community, and every service that this community provides,” said Charles Jeter of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools during a meeting on the proposed amendments.
In short, this amendment is just another corporate tax giveaway. A blanket 1-cent reduction in property taxes statewide would save Duke Energy $3.2 million, while the typical homeowner would save just $33.30. And the trade-off for that extra thirty-some dollars is huge.
Property taxes enable local governments to provide police, fire, and emergency medical services. They fund parks and libraries, allow schools and community colleges to build and maintain their facilities, and are essential for funding the people who fill potholes, pave streets, fix sidewalks, and pick up your trash.
“Tyrrell County is providing the baseline human services and quality of life services that just keep us going,” county manager David Clegg told NC Newsline back in May. “If you start cutting at that all of a sudden, you’re cutting social services, law enforcement, health, emergency medicine because there’s nothing else to cut.”
It’s not just regular homeowners that pay property taxes – large corporations have to pay property taxes on their commercial real estate. It’s just a small part of the fair share of taxes they should pay. So by allowing reductions in the property tax rate, we are allowing massive reductions in the amount of money corporations have to pay.
A blanket 1-cent reduction in the property tax rate statewide would cost residents $23.7 million in funding for local services provided by properties worth more than $10 million, and would cost counties $215 million. That’s the equivalent of 3,585 teachers, 3,502 sheriff’s deputies, 3,751 paramedics, or 510 new classrooms for each cent of the tax rate lost.
The analysis from Carolina Forward allows you to see for yourself. Select your county, and see who benefits and who loses. In Wake County, for example, Duke Energy is the largest benefactor while funding for hundreds of teachers, paramedics, and sheriff’s deputies would be at stake.
“This is a trap,” said state Sen. Kandie Smith. “What you’ve done is you starve local government from the top down. Now you want to cap them from the bottom. Then you want to blame them when the school roof is leaking, and the deputy can’t go on patrol.”
